A Quick Survey of Tenant Households in Ananthavaram, Andhra Pradesh
A quick survey of 30 tenant households in Ananthavaram village, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, was conducted by Soham Bhattacharya in collaboration with FAS in August, 2021. Ananthavaram is one of the 27 villages, across 12 States in India, where FAS has conducted household surveys as part of its more than a decade old village studies programme.
The quick survey was part of the study on agricultural tenancy in contemporary India, conducted by Soham in collaboration with FAS. The study is part of Soham’s doctoral research. Sujan Nalappaneni supported the survey as a field assistant, and the translator.
Preliminary observations from this survey suggest the persistence of a huge rent burden for the landless Dalit households, leasing-in land as tenant farmers. The absence of a minimum support price (MSP) for rabi crops such as Jowar and Maize seems to be another cause of distress among the tenant farmers in the village. Some of these impressions were presented at the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) meeting organised by the ‘Andhra Pradesh Kaulu Rythu Sangham (Andhra Pradesh Tenant Farmers Association) at Guntur on August 29, 2021. The data collected through the survey is currently being analysed, and will be shortly presented in a seminar conducted by FAS.