URUVAL (BELTHANGADY TALUK): At this time last year, harvested arecanut crop had been spread to dry on the terrace and almost the entire 3,000 sq ft front yard of Ravichandra Amtange’s house in Uruval village. But this season, the nuts are covering just a quarter of his front yard while the terrace lies empty. The picture sums up how kole roga has hit the arecanut growers in this village of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada, of which over 80 per cent of cultivable land is occupied by arecanut plantations.
“In place of 6 quintals that I used to reap in a normal year, this year it will be just 3 quintals,” says Ravichandra, as he points at the disease-hit nuts. Unlike many other farmers, the 51-year-old graduate and his wife themselves toil in their 2.09-acre plantation, and hire labourers only to climb the trees for spraying and harvesting. With the disease affecting the crop this time, they are staring at a bleak future for at least the next one year.
Ravichandra’s land has over 1,700 plants, most of which were planted over 30 years ago when his elder brother took care of the farm. The life of arecanut plants is 40-50 years and the yield comes down after 30 years. This means more expenditure and less income for the farmer.
The situation is almost similar for another arecanut grower Lakshminarayan Bhat, who lives a few kilometres away. Despite suffering losses, Bhat, whose family own seven acres of arecanut plantation, has not applied for compensation. “There is no use of it. I did not apply for it even in 2013 when we faced a similar situation,” says Bhat, who is expecting just 5 quintals of yield this year instead of the usual 25 quintals.