YADGIR : Many farmers of Yadgir district have started selling their cattle for a paltry amount as it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to provide fodder and water.
The failure of monsoon last year has disappointed farmers and authorities alike. Over 270 minor and major tanks in the three taluks of Shahapur, Surpur and Yadgir have gone bone dry in the last few weeks.
Hundreds of farmers across the district, who gathered at the weekly market at APMC yard on Tuesday, were trying to sell their cattle at low rates as they are unable to provide water and fodder. Usually, a pair of cattle is sold at `30,000 to `40,000 but now the farmers are giving them away at anything between `10,000 and `15,000 per pair, a farmer said.
The weekly cattle markets in different places in the taluks are packed with such desperate farmers.
With the drought at its peak, there are few buyers. Unless slaughter houses take the cattle, not many farmers are coming forward to purchase new livestock.
“There are some middlemen who come from Andhra Pradesh and Telanagana. Many middlemen work in the taluk and other drought-hit areas where farmers are ready to sell their cattle,” a farmer at the weekly market said.
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene district unit convener Mallikarjun Satyampet has demanded that zilla panchayat and district administration must fill tanks in villages and construct concrete tanks to provide water to animals.
He also urged the state government to supply fodder free of cost.
Animal Husbandry Department officials claim that the district has enough fodder and arrangements have been made to supply it to the farmers.
It is the responsibility of the gram panchayat to make arrangements to supply water and fodder to the cattle, they say.