Agriculture sops may not benefit small plantation growers

KOCHI: The Kisan Samman Nidhi and the interest subvention may not benefit the plantation farmers much, say the farmers’ organisations.

"There is no system in the country for the direct payment of amount to the farmers’ account. So we don’t think it will work," said V C Sebastian, national secretary general of Indian Farmers Movement (Infam). Moreover, it is a meagre amount, he added.

On the 2% interest subvention for the farmers affected by calamities, he said: "A farmer affected by the calamity is looking for waiver of the loan and not interest subvention," he said. The rubber growers in Kerala were affected by heavy rains and floods last year.


The coffee growers in Karnataka who were affected by heavy rains last year expected more in terms of relief. "The 2% interest subvention is welcome. But we expected more," said K K Vishwanath, organising secretary of Karnataka Growers’ Federation. According to him most of the small coffee farmers do not have a loan of more than Rs 1 lakh .

The Kisan Samman Nidhi may benefit only a small section of growers as the area is limited to below 2 hectares, he said.