It’s another dry day in Paluvai village in Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh. Four farmers, all between 45 and 60, sit in the shadow of a whitewashed church building, look up at the sky that’s now overcast, hoping for rain. They chat about everyday things, but the deep furrows in their foreheads show that they are worried. Karuvu (dry spell) is a word that appears frequently in their conversations, followed by a collective sigh. Their unopened umbrellas find a place on the steps leading to the heavy wooden door of the church.
They think about D. Veeraswamy, 40, a tenant farmer, who sowed cotton seeds in May across 3 acres. The decision was not easy for this father of two school-going children, after the family incurred huge losses in the last three years due to floods. He, like 60 other farmers who dared to hope, went ahead after they received unseasonal rainfall in May.
Cotton is usually sown in the first week of June, says Durga Prasad, a functionary of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, a farmers’ rights organisation. “The unseasonal rain in May gave them false hope,” he says.
