Hyderabad: Lease rents for farmland in Telangana are soaring, exposing cracks in the state’s farm support system. Despite schemes like Rythu Bharosa, cultivation on small holdings is increasingly unsustainable, pushing more farmers into tenancy and driving competition for land to unprecedented levels.Growing competition has pushed average lease rents to nearly Rs 15,000 an acre, with rates touching Rs 53,000-60,000 an acre in some pockets, according to a survey across 22 districts. Released on Tuesday by the Kaula Rythula Gurtimpu Sadhana Committee (Tenant Farmers Identity Committee), the survey covered 1,816 tenant farmers in 57 villages across 47 mandals.It found that the average leased area rose from five acres in 2022 to 6.7 acres in 2026, reflecting a steady expansion of tenancy. The share of farmers leasing more than five acres increased from 31% in 2022 to 42% in 2026, underscoring the shift toward larger holdings as small-scale farming becomes less viable.Kiran Vissa of Rythu Swarjya Vedika attributed rising rents to “growing competition among cultivators for productive parcels, expansion of irrigation, increasing mechanisation, and the need to cultivate larger acreages to offset rising input costs and shrinking margins.” The report notes that many farmers no longer see cultivation on two or three acres as sufficient to sustain a household.Regional disparities remain stark. In irrigated parts of Adilabad, lease rents hover around Rs 20,000 an acre. In Birkur mandal of Kamareddy district, tenant farmers reported paying Rs 45,000–60,000 an acre for highly productive irrigated parcels, often alongside 12-16 bags of paddy given to landowners in addition to cash.The distribution of leased holdings shows 22% of tenant farmers lease up to 2.5 acres, 36.2% lease 2.5-5 acres, 26.7% lease 5-10 acres, 13.6% lease 10-25 acres, and 1.6% lease more than 25 acres. When owned and leased holdings are combined, nearly two-thirds of tenant farmers cultivate more than five acres, with 32.5% operating 5-10 acres and 28.3% cultivating 10-25 acres.“Agriculture is undergoing a gradual consolidation of operational holdings through tenancy,” said Ravi Kanneganti of RSV. “Access to cultivable parcels increasingly determines who can remain in farming as costs rise and margins come under pressure,” he said.The survey also highlights the social profile of tenancy. BCs, SCs, STs, and minorities together account for 92.5% of tenant farmers, underscoring how socially and economically weaker sections dominate this segment of Telangana’s farming community.
