Too little, too late for Prakasam ryots

Farmers are feeling the pinch of inflation due to rise in prices of fuel

Gummala Venkateswarlu (45), a tobacco farmer from the remote Peridepi village in Prakasam district, had bought his dream motorcycle — a Royal Enfield — in 2018 on which he would ride to nearby towns to buy farm input and sell his produce.

Now, however, he has sold off his cherished possession with a heavy heart as he can no longer afford it thanks to the exorbitant fuel costs. He now goes around on a modest 100-cc motorcycle as he struggles to meet household expenses which too have gone up thanks to the cascading effect of rising fuel prices.

Over 600 families in his village share a similar fate, he says, as there is not a single house without a motorcycle. Now a big farmer, Rayapatti Venkata Rao, who has over 40 acres of land, is the only one in the village who owns the prized motorcycle. All of them say the fuel price cut is too little, and has come too late.