Karnataka: 69 farmer suicides under coalition! government rushes to act
Bengaluru: Taking serious note of 69 farmers committing suicide after the Congress-JD(S) coalition government came to power in Karnataka just three weeks ago, the department of agriculture has decided to act on a war footing to check the suicidal tendency among farmers through counselling and other remedial measures.
Agriculture Minister Shivashankar Reddy told DC that it was a dangerous trend that needs to be checked at any cost. "I feel it is not an easy task to deal with this as many issues are involved. I am planning to consult experts to seek their opinion on farmer problems. Besides, I am yet to study the recommendations of the Karnataka Agriculture Price Commission constituted by the previous government to ensure remunerative prices for agricultural produce”.
The minister bemo0aned that there was no national agriculture policy till date to bail out farmers in distress. The farmers were at the crossroads due to the prevailing ineffective marketing system, the menace of middlemen and the absence of remunerative prices for their produce.
Despite making several advances in the field of agriculture, they have not been able to ensure a better price for their crops.
APMCs were functioning but have failed to provide a solace to the farming community. Middlemen were still playing an active role in fixing prices for agriculture produce brought to the market by farmers. With no support forthcoming, farmers had lost confidence and were increasingly committing suicide, he said.
Mr Reddy said there was a proposal to have a chain link starting from farmers to customers like the milk unions to improve the condition of agriculturists. The milk unions have an effective cycle because of which whatever is supplied by farmers does not go waste. Horticulture farmers do not face problems due to establishment of HOPCOMS which buys fruits and vegetables at the market price. But such a system is not available to farmers who grow cereals, pulses and seeds.
Last year, tur dal production in Karnataka broke all records pushing the prices down. Though, the state government intervened and bought tur dal at the MSP, hardly 20-25 per cent of farmers benefitted. Space crunch posed big problems for the department in storing tur dal resulting in heavy losses.
“We are not in a position to tell farmers to grow particular crops which are in demand. If a particular crop fetches high returns, other farmers follow suit without understanding that it may cause a glut in the market and a fall in prices. Even inter-state movement of pulses, cereals and seeds is prohibited and that needs to be scrapped. Farmers must be allowed to sell their produce in neighbouring states in case of demand there".
