Originally Posted by Rex

‘If an acre of land is going at about Rs 1-2 crore, who will grow castor?’

International airport, sponge iron units trigger uptrend

The agriculture sector is bearing the brunt of development in the periphery of Hydebard with a few thousand hectares of land falling prey to the real estate boom, triggered by the airport project at Shamshabad.

Hit badly

Castor crop is among to be badly hit. Mahboobnagar, which ranks number one in castor area in Andhra Pradesh, has lost 16,250 hectares so far this year. Against the normal area of 1.42 lakh hectares, castor has been in 1.24 lakh ha during the kharif season, that ended earlier this month.

The total castor area in Andhra Pradesh for the year is put at 2.35 lakh ha this year against 2.02 lakh ha last year. The average for last three years is 2.70 lakh ha.

Though Andhra Pradesh has gained some new castor area in districts such as Kurnool, the loss in the traditional areas has not helped in increasing its national share of 25 per cent. Andhra Pradesh ranks second after Gujarat in castor. Gujarat accounts for 65 per cent of India’s castor production.

The figures for Rangareddy district (in which the airport area falls) and Nalgonda areas are no better. Castor area has shrunk by 30-40 per cent in the last two years in these two districts that surround the State capital.

“If an acre of land is going at about Rs 1-2 crore, who will grow castor?” Mr Rajender Prashad Agarwal, President of AP Oil Millers’ Association told Business Line.

Real estate prices

Spurt in sponge iron units along the Shamshabad-Jadcherla belt and the trigger caused by the Outer Ring Road also resulted in steep hike in real estate prices in the traditional castor growing areas. The situation on the Srisailam road too witnessed sharp raise in real estate prices, he said.

Several grape gardens too gave in to the real estate boom, which seems to have slackened of late, in the last three-four years around the State capital.

“Had the State retained the traditional area, we could have increased our share to at least 30 per cent nationally,” Mr Agarwal said.

The real estate boom has resulted in yet another problem for the castor farmers in other surrounding areas. “They are not able to find labour in these areas as most of them would have gone to the city for work,” he said.

This is certainly an issue which needs to be discussed by the state government soon.