Telangana, the newest state of the country is being hit by drought conditions for several years now and it made the state the second highest in the country in terms of farmers suicides. This year, the rains have been good and a good amount of water is stored in the reservoirs and the tanks.
But then as the farmers are going to the new crop, they are hit by the demonetization announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As the agricultural operations have been picking up, there is no respite for the cash problems to farmers who are unable to pay for the labour and other input costs.
“Usually we take loans and later repay them at higher interest rates. But this time, even those who lend the money are offering the loans only in the Old Currency and the struggles to exchange them begins. If the situation does not get better in the next couple of weeks, we will have to go for crop holiday even when there is a storage of water,” a farmer from interior Telangana told us.
