Kendrapara: Sharecroppers are slowly moving away from cultivation in this district as the benefits of state and Centre-sponsored schemes are not available to them with land owners grabbing all the aid.
Reports said the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment distributed `877 crore under Kalia scheme to over 43 lakh small and marginal farmers during the Odisha Day celebrations this year.
Similarly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sanctioned funds for the development of the farming community under statesponsored Krushak Yojana, Odisha Jackfruit Mission and Odisha Millet Mission. However, the steps taken by the Chief Minister have failed to reach the sharecroppers in Kendrapara district.
Sharecroppers are slowly becoming averse to cultivation this year as the land owners claiming themselves as farmers are grabbing all the benefits of statesponsored Kalia scheme and Centre-sponsored PM Kishan Yojana. Similarly, banks are not willing to sanction loans to the landless sharecroppers.
Moreover, they face problems in selling the harvested crops every year during both kharif and rabi seasons and often resort to distress sale of their produce due to a lack of support mechanisms.
Farmer leader Bijay Kumar Parida said 70 percent of the total farmland in this district is cultivated by sharecroppers. They take the land on lease from the owners for a period of one year for which they contribute half of the harvested paddy and two-fifth of rabi crops to the land owners. Sharecroppers have to take great risks in raising the crops and bear all the brunt starting from natural calamities to distress sale, but the landowners never come to their rescue in their time of need. They also face a lot of hurdles in getting a bank loan and while selling their harvested crops, he added.
Pramod Kumar Sahu, president of Krushak Vikash Samabaya Samiti said only 15 percent of small and marginal farmers carry out cultivation on their own land while rest of the land in the district is cultivated by the sharecroppers.
The state government is taking various steps for the growth and development of the farmers but it is yet to identify the sharecroppers engaged in cultivation in the district. As a result, they fail to get any bank loan, crop insurance, or the benefits of various welfare schemes aimed at the farmers’ welfare, he said.
He said that the state government at first needs to make an enumeration of the sharecroppers so that they do not feel left out in availing the benefits of various welfare schemes.
Gayadhar Dhal, president of Kendrapara Zilla Chashi and Shramika Sangha, said that the state government had convened a meeting to identify sharecroppers in 2015. In the meeting, it was discussed to include the sharecroppers in various district-level schemes and other social security schemes. Since then, eight years have passed but no step has been taken yet in this regard.
A land owner Trilochan Jena of Indupur village under Kendrapara block said there are some roadblocks in giving legal sanction to the sharecroppers. These are the period of contract between the land owners and sharecroppers and whether the land owners should get money or share from the harvested crops. These issues need to be discussed threadbare before arriving at any conclusion. Jena said that people will get interested in cultivation only when a law is enacted for the sharecroppers but the right of ownership of the land also needs to be protected.
A farmer Satyabrata Senapati of Mahakalapara said that land is a family property that acts as an asset during any emergency. This is the reason why people purchase land. He said if a law is enacted and land is given on lease to the sharecroppers then it will be difficult for the landowners to sell off the land during any family problem and may give rise to disputes between the family members.
Amiya Behera of Dumuka village under Marshaghai block said sharecroppers are not inclined to take up cultivation due to distress sales, failure to get any assistance during natural calamities and lack of government sponsorship.
PNN