Migrant hands rooted across Telangana’s farms

Phulender Thakur arrived in Telangana with no certainty. In his mid 40s now, he left Madhepura in Bihar for a grape farm in Medchal Malkajgiri district, drawn south by an elder brother already working there. The vines were heavy then, grape cultivation was spread across large tracts and labour was plentiful. Phulender learnt fast, and the farm soon became familiar ground.

The scene, however, changed gradually. Acreage under grapes shrank, fields thinned out and many growers exited. But Thakur stood firm, his skills outlasting the crop’s declining demand. Today, he heads a group of workers at a grape farm in Muduchinthalapally, with three of his brothers employed alongside him. Word has travelled back home too; youngsters from Bihar now call him for work references, hoping for a foothold in Telangana’s farms.

He spends most part of the year here, returning to his family in Madhepura once or twice annually. “I don’t get to go home even for Chhath Puja, one of Bihar’s biggest festivals, because that is when we have to cut the grape stems,” Thakur says, as a group of youngsters standing beside him nod in agreement. These youth, all from his native village, arrived in Telangana three years ago and learnt the ropes of grape cultivation under his guidance.

Thakur’s story reflects a pattern increasingly visible across the State. Farmers, farmer welfare organisations and others associated with the sector point to a steady rise in the number of agricultural workers arriving from other States.

The scale of this dependence is shaped by the sheer size of the agricultural landscape here. Telangana is the 11th largest State in the country, with a geographical area of over 276.95 lakh acres (112.08 lakh hectares). In 2022-23, as much as 52.61% of that was under Net Sown area, according to Telangana Socio Economic Outlook 2024.

For farm owners and tenant farmers managing large tracts of land, finding local labour for sowing, pruning, harvesting and post-harvest work has become increasingly challenging. Workers from Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and elsewhere have stepped in to fill this gap, arriving with families or in groups, staying on farms and keeping the fields running.

The migrant agricultural workers are usually provided shelter, food and electricity at the farms where they are employed. In addition, they are paid wages that vary with the nature of work and the skills required.

Their monthly remuneration typically ranges from ₹9,000 to ₹11,000 per person. In other cases, payment is linked to the crop or task — ₹16 to ₹25 per sack of paddy filled, around ₹10,000 per acre for berry picking, or lump-sum amounts for labour-intensive work such as plucking red chilli and other crops.

Toiling at a papaya farm in Keesara of Rangareddy district on an afternoon, Dulkar Chand, also from Bihar, says workers are each paid around ₹9,000 a month besides being provided accommodation, food and basic amenities. While men at the site are engaged in lifting manure and spreading it across the fields or tending to the papaya crop, women work in an adjoining ivy gourd farm.

Caretakers and owners of farms say migrant workers usually reach them through a reference-based network. Those who have worked on a farm earlier generally connect them with people seeking employment.

Declining interest of local youth

Farmers, farmer welfare organisations and government officials note that the presence of workers from other States in Telangana’s agricultural fields has been observed for several years. And at the same time, there has been a decline in the number of local youth opting for farm work. Those tracking the trend say no single factor is responsible. Among the multiple reasons are the availability of alternative livelihood options, greater access to education supported by the Telangana government, people choosing to work on their own small landholdings and a growing preference for gig work.

Farmers also say that an increase in irrigation resources in recent years has increased the area under cultivation, pushing up demand for agricultural labour even as many workers remain engaged on their own farms.

According to the recently released Economic Survey 2025-26, major initiatives such as the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project and Mission Kakatiya in Telangana, contributed to an increase in cultivation area from 1.31 crore acres in 2014 to 2.21 crore acres by financial year 2023.

Ravi Kanneganti, State committee member of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, says a combination of factors such as monocropping, mechanisation, use of chemical inputs and rapid urbanisation has steadily reduced the number of workdays for agricultural labourers. Availability of migrant workers from other States, who are willing to work for lower wages, has also contributed to this shift.

“This made people look for alternative and reliable sources of income, even if the earnings were lower. Many are left without work altogether. The government needs to address this issue. People have to be equipped with skills relevant to other sectors such as services and MSMEs to generate local employment. And this requires focused attention,” says Kanneganti.

He points out that crops such as cotton and paddy are harvested at the same time, leading to a spike in demand for labour. “When sufficient workers are not available locally, there is a clear dependency on labour from other States. Shifting from monocropping to multiple cropping every month can ensure a regular income for farmers and increase the availability of workdays. Other crops such as pulses, millets, vegetables and oilseeds need to be supported through incentives,” he asserts.

Echoing some of the observations, Y. Sreenivasulu, associate professor at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies in Hyderabad, says his team has also found that most youth show little interest in taking up agriculture or allied activities. A study is currently under way, he adds, to better understand their aspirations and the factors driving this disengagement.

Donthu Rambabu, joint secretary of Telangana Rythu Sangham, says migrant labourers from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are commonly employed on red chilli farms. Each acre requires nearly 400 workdays. “Most people engaged for paddy sowing here come from West Bengal and Bihar,” he explains.

Levelling up

Rambabu adds that some farm labourers from Telangana have transitioned into tenant farmers by leasing large tracts of land. At the same time, children of landowners who once held extensive acreage have migrated to other States or countries, leaving none behind to continue farming. Those lands are increasingly being leased out.

“If it is a small farmer owning two to four acres, the family itself gets involved in tilling, sowing and other works. But a tenant farmer who has taken 20-30 acres on lease cannot manage all the work alone and has to hire labour,” he says.

In some pockets, small farmers still practise a barter system, working on each other’s fields in exchange for labour on their own land.

Y. Balaiah, who owns three acres in Adraspalli village of Muduchinthalapally mandal, says even farmers with very small landholdings — an acre or less — are now relying on cultivation, a shift he says was uncommon earlier. He moved from paddy to vegetable cultivation, as the former requires higher investment and offers comparatively lower returns. “Vegetables ensure regular income. We can sell directly to customers in vegetable markets and avoid paying commission to agents. People with small extents of land now prefer to cultivate vegetables than work on others’ farms,” he adds.

To keep costs down, Balaiah and his wife harvest the vegetables themselves, as hiring labour would leave little scope for profit. “I cannot expect anyone to work for ₹300 or ₹400 a day. The cost of essential goods has shot up,” he explains.

The trend reflects the structure of landholdings in the State. According to the 11th Agriculture Census (2021-22), the total number of operational holdings (farm units) in Telangana stood at 70.60 lakh, covering an area of 63.12 lakh hectares.

Marginal and small farmers, who hold less than two acres, account for 91.4% of landholdings and operate 68.2% of the total area, or about 43 lakh hectares.

Semi-medium farmers (two to less than four acres), medium farmers (four to less than 10 acres) and large farmers (10 acres and above) together make up a small share of holdings, accounting for 7.1%, 1.4% and 0.1% respectively, while operating 20.5%, 8.7% and 2.6% of the cultivated area.

From the other side

Veteran farmers, however, point to tflhe ip side. Some families that have practised agriculture for decades have gradually developed specialised skills and now travel across Telangana and even to other States in search of work.

A worker with broccoli harvest at a farm in Muduchinthalapally.
| Photo Credit:
Nagara Gopal

K. Chandra Mohan Reddy, among the early practitioners of grape farming in the region, says several workers who were once employed on his farm went on to master tasks such as setting up trellis systems. “Some people who worked at our farm earlier learnt trellis work. The same happened with workers from other farms. Today, there are teams in Muduchinthalapally that are in constant demand for setting up trellis,” he says. It is at his farm that Thakur continues to work.

Digital media platforms are increasingly enabling such skilled teams to expand their reach and get work orders. Chinna, from Pedapur village in Sangareddy district, began pruning mango, guava, pomegranate and other fruit trees at the age of 19 after learning the skill from another worker. Soon, he started working independently. Today, the 28-year-old leads a team that travels across districts and even to other States on work.

He says farmers from various districts and States began contacting him after a video interview carrying his phone number was widely circulated among farming communities. The team has since taken up work in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well. “We are involved in pruning, grafting and plantation work for mango, guava, sitaphal and other crops,” he shares.

Similar pruning teams from Andhra Pradesh also travel to Telangana for seasonal work. As different fruit trees require pruning at different times of the year, such teams are able to find work across regions for much of the year.

Even as skill-based agricultural labour becomes more mobile and in demand, concerns remain over the absence of basic social security. B.Kondal Reddy, State committee member of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, says landless workers, including agricultural labourers, continue to remain outside formal safety nets such as insurance. “Currently, migrant workers have no social security. If someone dies while working, workers pool money among themselves to take the body back to their native place,” he says.