THE PROBLEM
The extreme agrarian distress in Andhra Pradesh achieved national prominence when it resulted in the dramatic increase in suicides by farmers in the region. These have occurred in substantial numbers for around seven years now, but the causes leading to such desperation have been documented by some sensitive journalists and local activists in the state relatively recently.
The present government in the state - which came to power essentially because its leaders showed themselves to be aware of the severity of the problems in the countryside - has therefore made agricultural regeneration the most important priority. It is becoming increasingly evident that the difficulties confronting agriculture in Andhra Pradesh are complex and multifarious, and will in fact require a complete reversal of the earlier economic strategy followed in the state, if these problems are to be adequately addressed. Of course, what has happened in rural Andhra Pradesh has been particularly severe.
The state of Andhra Pradesh had become almost a laboratory for every extreme form of neo liberal economic experiment, with a massive shift towards relying on incentives for private agents as opposed to state intervention and regulation of private activity, in virtually all areas. Ironically, this decline in the state's role took place at the same time that the state government was incurring massive external debts from bilateral and multilateral external agencies. Many of the problems in the economy of the state - in agriculture as well as in non-agriculture - can be traced to this reduction of the government's positive role and the collapse of a wide range of public institutions affecting the conditions facing producers.
Agrarian crisis in Andhra Pradesh
Table 1: Annual rates of growth of rural employment |
per cent per annum |
Total Usual Status |
Total Daily
status |
Agri Usual Status |
Agri Daily Status |
|
|
|
|
|
1983 to 1987-88 |
1.04 |
2.01 |
0.07 |
1.53 |
1987-88 to 1993-94 |
3.15 |
83.73 |
3.66 |
4.39 |
1993-94 to 1999-2004 |
0.06 |
80.03 |
0.55 |
-0.03 |
Total agricultural employment in terms of Usual Status occupation barely increased atall between 1993-94 and 1999-2000, while in terms of Daily Status (which as a flow measure is a more accurate indicator of labour demand conditions) actually declined. | 
