When the Karnataka government announced the biggest farm loan waiver ever, totalling about `49,000 crore, it was expected that the measure would extend relief to the farm sector. Five months later, there is no sign of that happening. Instead, the agrarian crisis has only worsened. There have been 220 farmer suicides since the waiver was announced.
After months of delay and haggling with financial institutions and farmers on how to go about it, the government last week handed over debt-free certificates to 477 farmers. Too little, too late. While the faulty implementation of the waiver is not the only reason, it has certainly been a contributing factor to the distress. The other reasons being floods/drought, volatile market, greedy middlemen and lack of effective crop insurance.
The crisis is across the state and crops—sugarcane growers in north Karnataka are fighting for their dues from sugar mills; farmers in the southern and central parts are dumping their produce on the field after failing to get remunerative prices, and coffee and areca growers are staring at crippling losses due to diseases and vagaries of the monsoon. As many as 84 taluks have already been declared drought-hit and it is estimated that food production will be down by at least 30 per cent this season.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who takes pride in his pro-farmer credentials, must take into account the gloom that hangs over the sector. The loan waiver is a mess, the cost of which will be borne by the state’s economy in the years to come. But having got in, the government has no way of wriggling out. However, it must look at other long-term measures.
Working on providing farmers direct access to markets, getting rid of middlemen, strengthening irrigation systems, introducing farmer-friendly crop insurance, promoting technology, setting up storage facilities, streamlining supply chains and taking steps to increase productivity will help. They are relatively easy to implement, unlike loan waivers or financial incentives which can at best be a one-time solution.