Hyderabad: The Telangana Agriculture Department has launched a digital crop survey to identify fake farmers who receive benefits without cultivating crops.
Officials say the digital crop survey will help ensure that government schemes reach genuine farmers. The exercise will also expose people who claim benefits without doing any farming.
Authorities found that some landholders received benefits under the Rythu Bandhu scheme for nearly a decade without cultivating crops. Many also collected crop loss compensation during disasters.
Digital crop survey to identify genuine farmers
The Agriculture Department began the survey after noticing that many genuine farmers did not receive full benefits under government schemes.
Officials deployed agricultural extension officers and volunteers for the survey. They visit every survey number and record crop details.
Teams also collect farmer information and capture field photographs. They then upload the details to central and state agriculture databases.
Preliminary findings show that several landholders with pattadar passbooks never cultivated crops. Yet they received benefits from multiple schemes.
The department now plans to link procurement with the digital crop survey results. Officials aim to purchase cotton and paddy only from farmers who actually cultivate crops.
Earlier, brokers bought produce from small farmers at low prices. They later sold the same produce at the government’s Minimum Support Price.
Officials said this practice allowed middlemen to earn large profits while genuine farmers suffered losses. Therefore, the department is preparing measures to stop such practices.
Meanwhile, the government has also increased incentives to encourage fine paddy cultivation. It announced a ₹500 bonus for fine variety paddy.
However, officials received complaints that traders brought fine paddy from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh districts such as Krishna, Guntur and Kurnool. They allegedly sold it at procurement centres in Nalgonda, Khammam and Mahabubnagar districts.
Rice millers also complained that some of the paddy procured through this route did not meet quality standards.
Therefore, the Agriculture Department plans to use the digital crop survey to identify genuine farmers and ensure procurement directly from them.