Tenant farmers left high and dry by the system, says study

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.

First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.

Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.

Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers

Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there

The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.

A survey of tenant farmers across Telangana has found their widespread exclusion from crucial government agricultural support systems, raising concerns over the viability of cultivation for lakhs of farmers who lease land but lack formal recognition.

The findings emerged from a 2026 survey conducted by the Kaulu Raitula Gurtimpu Sadhana Committee (Tenant Farmers’ Recognition Struggle Committee), which covered 1,816 tenant farmers across 57 villages in 47 mandals spanning 22 districts. The study found that tenant cultivators face major barriers in accessing subsidised fertilizers, crop procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP), disaster relief and institutional crop loans.

According to the report, access to subsidised urea has become increasingly difficult due to a recently introduced app-based system requiring landowners’ One-Time Password (OTP) verification. During the recent Rabi season, only 412 of the 1,816 surveyed tenant farmers constituting about 22.8 per cent could purchase subsidised urea at the official rate. Only 40 tenants managed to secure the fertilizer under their own names, while others depended on landowners’ identities.

Those unable to access the subsidy reportedly purchased urea from the open market at nearly double the subsidised price.

Tenant farmers also reported major hurdles in selling crops through government procurement systems. Platforms such as Kapas Kisan for cotton, Online Procurement Management System for paddy and Markfed procurement require Pattas and Aadhaar linkage, or OTP-based approval from the land owner, making it very difficult for tenant farmers to sell to government procurement agencies, the survey found.

As per the report, only 6.7 per cent of cotton-growing tenant farmers sold produce directly to the Cotton Corporation of India in their own names. For paddy, only 20 per cent of tenants in Kharif-2025 and 17.2 per cent in Rabi-2025 could access procurement under their own identities. Many farmers reportedly resorted to selling crop