Farmers of Andhra Pradesh ranked first in the country in per capita debt burden. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar announced that every farming family in the state has a debt of Rs.2,45,554.
He was responding to a question asked by AAP member Sanjay Singh in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
At the national level, each farmer’s family has a debt of Rs.74,121, while AP farmers have three times the burden. Andhra Pradesh was followed by Kerala and Punjab.
There are only these three states where the per capita debt of a farmer’s family exceeds Rs.2 lakhs.
Every farmer family in Telangana has a debt of Rs.1,52,113. It is ranked fifth in the highest per capita debt for farming families.
It is noteworthy that while the income of AP farmer families (Rs. 10,480) is 2.56% higher compared to the average income of farmer families of Rs.10,218 in the country, the debt is almost three times higher.
Telangana farmers also have twice as much debt as the national average. At the same time, the monthly income of farmers there is only Rs 9,403. This is 7.9% less than the national average income (Rs 10,480).
That too, the income of farmers’ families in Telugu states is very less than in other states. While the average monthly income of farmer families in the most backward states of the Northeast is Rs.16,863 and the average debt burden is Rs.13,642, the Telugu states are lagging behind them in both respects.
