In Andhra Pradesh, ‘drought train’ takes farmers to greener pastures

KURNOOL (AP): Far from the raging political debate over a national farm loan waiver is Tuggali railway station in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district. By dusk, hundreds of farmers and agricultural labourers have gathered, clothes and cooking gear stuffed in used fertiliser sacks. They’re waiting to catch the ‘migration train’, their ticket out of a severe drought in the district.
Of 676 mandals in 13 districts, the Andhra Pradesh government has declared 296 in six districts as drought-affected during kharif 2018.The rabi crop too has failed due to lack of rain and in most areas there is no sowing.
Nearly 95% of the passengers on the platform reply ‘suggu pothunnam (migrating for work)’ when asked where are they heading. Of the 10 trains that pass through Tuggali, only two stop here. The train that is packed to capacity is the daily passenger from Bengaluru Cantonment to Vijayawada, known locally as ‘Guntur Bandi’. It has been ferrying 300 farmers and agricultural labourers daily to greener pastures. This is Andhra Pradesh’s ‘drought train’ that tells the story of the state’s worst drought of the decade, and its impact on farming families.
“Our family owns four acres of land. As there is no rain, we lost our crop. We could work as coolies but this year there is no work due to the drought,” says B Mahadeva, a farmer from Kambaladinne in Pedda Kadubur mandal. He boarded the train with his three brothers and their families.
K Ramesh Babu, deputy station manager, Tuggali railway station, says, “Out of 400 to 500 passengers who leave this station every day, 200 to 300 are farmers and coolies migrating for work. This year we have seen migration double. Some went to Telangana during kharif season and now some are going to coastal Andhra for rabi.”
Farmers say they invested Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per acre in groundnut, cotton and Bengal gram crops but lost everything and got no help from the government.
“The groundwater level has dropped to 300 ft. As there was no fodder for the animals, we sold them and are migrating. I am going to work in a cotton ginning factory in Guntur,” says B Urukundu of Kapati village in Adoni mandal.
Though agricultural labourers from Kurnool have been migrating for years, the numbers have been higher this year because of drought. Kurnool district registered deficient rainfall of 50.2%, while the state recorded a deficient rainfall of 31.7%.
Gattu Mallaiah, a ticket clerk at Tuggali railway station, says, “If three or four families of a village migrate to the same destination, they hire a mini lorry. Otherwise they take the train,” says Mallaiah.
Kurnool district collector S Satyanarayana says migration is “a common thing” in this area. “We are taking all contingency measures to combat drought. Fodder is being given at reasonable rates. We have sent proposals for Rs 616 crore input subsidy to the farmers for the crop damage. Though the loss would be more, this will help them to some extent,” he said.
Indu, 8, a class 3 student from Kambaladinne, is waiting with other children at the railway station, all excited about the journey. “We are taking a train trip,” she says gleefully. Though the Kurnool district administration says it has set up 68 seasonal hostels for 3,000 children of migrants, school-going children like Indu usually lose an academic year as they head to work with their parents in mills and cotton and chilli fields in Guntur.