Thanjavur: Farmers, by and large, welcomed the Supreme Court order asking the Centre to spell out schemes for the ameliorating the conditions of farmers so that suicides of farmers across the country can be prevented.
The farmers also demanded that the Centre spell out its policies clearly.S. Ranganathan, secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, while welcoming the order, said the government should fix Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops as per the recommendation of Dr M. S. Swaminathan, who headed the National Commission on Agriculture.
The commission recommended that price should be fixed taking into the cost of cultivation per acre plus fifty per cent of the cost of cultivation into account.
Agreeing with the court's observations on crop insurance and bank loans, Mr Ranganathan said that subsidy should be abolished but a better price should be given for paddy.
Welcoming the court's observation, V. Palaniappan, senior agriculture expert and member of Senior Agro Technologists forum, which sends its suggestions to state government on opening of Mettur dam, said bottlenecks in crop insurance scheme like delay in payment of premium by state and central governments and discrepancies in details of area of cultivation given differently by agriculture and statistics departments should be removed.
He also felt that nationalized banks should not insist on security for giving loans to farmers. P. R. Pandian, coordinator of Tamil Nadu Farmers' Associations, felt getting water from Karnataka alone can prevent suicides and deaths.
"Water is the main problem which deprives farmers to take up cultivation or sustain the raised crop, when they don't get it in time and available quantity. This leads to death or suicide than other factors, though they also contribute to it. Centre should solve the Cauvery issue first, he said.
