Andhra Pradesh farmers face climate uncertainty and mounting debts as monsoon fails
In Inagallu village, Bapatla district, the fields that should now be green with young paddy shoots lie barren and cracked. Kommineni Srinivasa Rao, a farmer who owns four acres and leases six more, walks across the hard soil where his plough cannot penetrate. With the 2026 monsoon failing, his days are spent watching a cloudless sky, anxious about spending his remaining borrowed money on a crop that may never grow.
Srinivasa Rao's experience is not isolated. Across Andhra Pradesh, thousands of farming families are facing a similar crisis triggered by water scarcity, delayed or reduced crop coverage, and rising cultivation costs. The main worry for many is no longer about which crop will fetch a good price, but whether they can plant anything at all. Questions about which crops can survive with limited water and whether harvests will cover debts dominate their daily lives.
“If there are no rains, we cannot even plough the land properly. We ploughed once when there was some moisture, but the soil has dried up again this Kharif season. Everything has come to a standstill,” says Srinivasa Rao.
The crisis has a psychological dimension as well. Farming is built around hope and anticipation. Farmers prepare land expecting rain and decide whether to sow by watching the sky. When the monsoon becomes unpredictable, every decision becomes a gamble. “We keep waiting for the next rain before deciding what to do. We have to think about whether to sow, whether to spend more money and whether the crop will survive,” he adds.
The state government's suggestion to switch from water-intensive paddy to drought-resistant crops appears practical on paper, but for farmers it involves reorganising an entire agricultural system. Paddy is not just a crop; it is a familiar network of seed supply, cultivation methods, labour arrangements, procurement channels and marketing mechanisms. The shift to red gram, black gram, green gram, castor, millets or other crops demands fresh investment and a complete change in approach.
In the dryland belt around Kottur mandal in Bapatla district, agriculture has nearly halted across about 3,800 acres that depend mostly on rainfall. Tobacco, once a key commercial crop, has lost its appeal due to weak demand and market uncertainty. Chilli cultivation has shrunk to just 100-150 acres because of water scarcity and high input costs. Farmers now pin hopes on Bengal gram, which can be sown in November or December if rains return. But even this is a gamble, requiring fresh expenditure on seed and land preparation without any guarantee of weather or prices.
This Kharif season has pushed Andhra Pradesh's agriculture to its limits. Agriculture supports nearly 62% of the state's population. Last year, the state recorded a foodgrain production of 237 lakh metric tonnes, but this year's El Niño conditions have severely disrupted the monsoon, leading to a 51% rainfall shortfall. Farmers are forced to spend more just to keep crops alive, and without immediate financial relief and systemic support, rural communities face a difficult road ahead.
