Cash is rationed but the farmer needs more to buy seeds and fertilisers for the sowing.
A week after the notes ban, rural India, a cash-driven economy now starved of cash, is struggling - for seeds to sow, labourers to pay, food to buy and even a cup of tea. After three years of drought, farmers had been looking forward to a good rabi season. The rains have been plentiful, but with no usable money in hand, they are desperate.
Cash is rationed but the farmer needs more to buy seeds and fertilisers for the sowing, said Ramachandran. "At every stage -- seeds, agricultural labour, fertilisers, pesticides... we are facing trouble. We support the Prime Minister's move, but let the change be brought in soon,'' he added.
Ex-sarpanch Narsa Reddy agreed. The tears of joy after rains, he said, may soon become tears of regret.
Others are desperately trying to sell their produce to get some cash in hand. At the market of Siddapet, a smalltown in Central Telangana, farmers are waiting all day for a seller who would pay cash.
Lingam, farmer who has come with his extended family of two brothers, their wives and children, said "We need cash. How else can we pay labour dues and meet our own expenses?"
But what's worse is that even when one has managed to get hold of some cash in new notes, especially the Rs 2000, little changes.
Srinivas, who has a note of Rs 2000 and the old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, says he still feels like a pauper. No one accepts his money since they can't give him change. "At the petrol pump, they turn me away. I go to a hotel for tea, they drive me out. I cannot even buy food, since I cannot eat food worth Rs 2000,'' he said.
"From grocery shop to vegetables and gold, nowhere we can buy or sell. Those who had planned weddings think it is best to postpone. Everyone says no change. When will change come?'' said Narsa Reddy.