With the ban on gutkha coming as the latest blow, areca growers in the district are distraught. Some of them have chopped areca palms and cleared their plantations.
Several factors, including price crash, drought and disease pushed the farmers to take this extreme step. The growers are also steeped in heavy debt, with no signs of recovery.
Areca growers Basavaraj Yadav of Holalkere town and AV Jayappa of Avinahatti village have cut down trees that were spread over six and three acres respectively. They were growing arecanut for the last 12-14 years.
JCBs wiped out their plantations in a matter of hours.
Yadav told Express: “Prices will crash and I cannot bear the losses. Therefore, I cleared the farm that was nurtured for more than a decade. Continuous drought for the last two years and failure of nearly four borewells, catalysed by a loan of Rs 10 lakh from the State Bank of Mysore, shattered my dreams of becoming a successful farmer,” he lamented.
Jayappa said: “Lakhs of rupees spent to raise the plantation has pushed me into a debt trap. The crop has been persistently attacked by diseases and as a last resort I decided to clear the farm.” He said every year he used to spend nearly Rs 5 lakh on the farm, but it was of no use.
Both the farmers requested the government to resolve the problems faced by areca growers and also waive crop loans.
Assistant director of Horticulture Department Devaraj said the issue had not come to his notice and he would look into it.