TIRUCHY: To beat the scorching sun, both candidates and farmers from the villages along the banks of the Cauvery River leading to the Kallanai Anicut — the world’s oldest functioning dam, built by Chola king Karikala Cholan — began their day’s work a little early in the morning.
Despite the cool morning breeze, a candidate contesting from the Srirangam seat who was out for campaigning and Saravanakumar, a farmer from Panayapuram in Tiruchy, who was preparing his land to sow gingelly seeds during summer, were both seen sweating profusely.
However, while the contestant has to exert himself only for the next 10 days until the election is over, farmers like Saravanakumar have to toil throughout their lives to make a living.
“This is the reality for lakhs of farmers in the delta region, particularly small and marginal. We provide food grains for the entire country, and we are left at the mercy of nature and promises of governments. If one of them fail us, the other may extend a helping hand. But if both fail, it is the farming community that has to bear the brunt,” says Saravananakumar, lamenting that the farming community is reeling under lack of income despite repeated promises and schemes.
“Hard work bears fruit, but it is not entirely true as far as agriculture is concerned,” says K Veerabathran, a farmer from Thiruvalarsolai village. “A gale had devastated the banana trees I cultivated in an acre of leased land a few years back. Till today, I am unable to repay the money borrowed. Middlemen make the most money out of our hard work, as we are unable to fix a price for our produce,” he said.
P Sugachandran, from Athavathur East village in Tiruchy, was transplanting sorghum in his land, spoke about labour shortage, skyrocketing fertiliser, pesticide and other input costs. “As we have no other source of income other than our land, we keep trying our luck in farming,” he added.
Farmers are spread across more than 25 constituencies in the central region, comprising nine districts. The DMK won 37 seats out of 41 in the central districts in the 2021 polls.
While the DMK has been saying it will retain power in the upcoming election, one section of the farming community is unhappy with the government, citing the absence of any promise on loan waiver, said G Srinivasan, a farmer from the Ganapathi Agraharam in Thanjavur district.
“Chief Minister M K Stalin announced an MSP of `3,500 per quintal for paddy and `4,500 per tonne for sugarcane, after the AIADMK made a similar announcement. However, there has been no word on the crop loan waiver. The DMK government has also not fulfilled its MSP promise made in 2021,” Srinivasan alleged.
Swamimalai S Vimalnathan, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmer’s Protection Association, Thanjavur, urged both the DMK and AIADMK to ensure that MSP promises would be implemented immediately by whichever party assumes power after the polls, noting that the DMK took five years to act on its MSP promise.
“At the fag end of the AIADMK regime, Palaniswami announced a loan waiver of around `12,000 crore and sanctioned `5,000 crore. The DMK government released the remaining `7,000 crore,” Vimalnathan added.
Farmers also underlined the issues including delayed procurement resulting in spoilage of paddy in rains, a culture of bribing surrounding the paddy procurements in direct procurement centres (DPCs) in the delta region.
Arupathi P Kalyanam, secretary of the Federation of Farmers Associations in Cauvery Delta Districts, strongly opposed unproductive freebies and unnecessary subsidies. He said farmers’ livelihood would not improve unless fund allocation for the agriculture sector is increased from the current 2% to 3% to at least 10% to 15%.
Vayalur N Rajendran, state treasurer of the farmers’ wing of the Tamil Manila Congress, said, “A new crop insurance policy should be formulated by the state government, so that both government and farmers can benefit,” he added.
P S Masilamani, state general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association affiliated with the CPI, differed from these views saying that farmers’ livelihoods have seen some improvement. Despite several hurdles, a considerable number of youngsters of the state have turned their focus towards farming, he said.
“As the real estate sector attempts to convert agricultural lands into plots in suburban areas, the entry of youth into the farming sector has slowed down this conversion,” he added.
Although the farming community has several concerns and mixed opinions on the DMK-led state government’s performance, it may not be the only deciding factor in the elections, Kalyanam observed.
With changes in the opposition alliance, including the inclusion of T T V Dhinakaran-led AMMK and the BJP, along with the emergence of actor Vijay-led TVK attracting large crowds, these new dynamics in both the DMK and AIADMK alliances are also likely to play a significant role in determining the fate of the candidates.