Kelvad farmer's turmeric recorded as soybean; tehsildar promises correction

Buldhana: Ganesh Nikam, a farmer from Kelvad in Chikhli taluka, planted turmeric on one acre, but the official crop record shows soybean there. He found out when he went to a bank for a crop loan and saw that his 7/12 land record listed soybean instead of turmeric, ETV Bharat reported.

According to Nikam, turmeric qualifies for a crop loan of ₹1 lakh but soybean for only ₹30,000, leaving him ₹70,000 short. He fears he will also lose his estimated crop insurance amount of about ₹4 lakh without the correct entry, and the report says any drought aid would be calculated for soybean as well.

Nikam said no staff member visited his field when the crop was recorded. When he was asked over the phone, he told them he had turmeric on 40 gunthas and soybean on the rest of the land, he said. He wants the entry corrected and action taken against the employees responsible.

Farmer leader Ravikant Tupkar condemned the lapse and warned of an agitation if the staff concerned were not acted against quickly. The Chikhli tehsildar assured that the farmer would not suffer a loss, that the record would be corrected after the technical process is completed and that the employee at fault would face action after an inquiry, Dainik Prabhat reported.

Sources: ETV Bharat; Dainik Prabhat