Gowthampura, a remote, but, picturesque village in Sagar taluk, is the land of the arecanut, where people talk, walk and trace the cultivation of betel nut to the Vedic period. They have continued this ancient crop lineage with all devotion albeit many ups and downs. Despite many hiccups — volatile prices, continuing power crisis, Yellow Leaf disease, the cancer controversy, and drying borewells — the gutsy farming community, comprising the Edigas and Havyak Brahmins, have toiled and increased their acreage year after year.
Small and marginal farmers form a major chunk of areca growers in Sagar and they religiously follow an inter-cropping method. Owning anywhere between 1 and 4 acres, they also grow banana, pepper and other spices in their areca gardens. However, owing to water scarcity, the yield per acre has come down from 10 to 6 quintals. Indiramma, a former gram panchayat member, cites acute scarcity of power supply and water in the region — that is home to the Sharavati river, Jog Falls and the Linganamakki Dam. “Most parts of the day, it is single phase ... how do you expect us to operate our borewells? Power shortage is so acute that we have learned to live without it. We are in fact, thinking of going in for more horticultural crops as there is not much yield from areca,” she adds.
A micro-enterprise owner Shilpa adds, “In our vicinity, we have the Ambligolla reservoir ... but, the waters flow to Shikaripur and not to Gowthampura. If it rains, then we can go in for our regular crops otherwise, it is only banana, cardamom and pepper.”
Lack of facilities
The village of Gowthampura has a population of about 1,500 and the residents wonder how can their taluk supply power to the state, when they are themselves deprived of it. A resident adds, “It is not just this. Even the single road to this village was in a horrible condition. However, work on the 25-km stretch from Shikaripur to Anandpura (which was sanctioned by B S Yeddyurappa) has started and lately it has picked up pace. But, no thanks to our legislator, who has no time or interest. And since we are in a remote part of the MLA’s constituency, he has never bothered about our plight or ever heard our problems.”
A five-time legislator from Sagar, 87-year-old Kagodu Thimmappa is once again in the fray and is pitted against Hartal Halappa (BJP). With Belur Gopalkrishna quitting BJP and joining hands with his uncle Kagodu Thimmappa, Halappa has a tough fight on hands against an ageing, but, veteran politician.
Continuing our trail in Sagar, we take a right turn from Gowthampura and travel further for 3 km to land up in Hireharaka. This is a village with a population of about 2,500 with majority being the Ediga community.
Chowdappa is a marginal farmer with just an acre and grows areca, banana and ginger. He has no complaints against the MLA and says Kagodu Thimmappa will win a sixth term easily. Anxiously waiting at the village bus stop is Naveen, a youngster who studies in a degree college in Sagar town. He says, “There is neither bus connectivity nor mobile connectivity. Each day, I have to walk 3 km from my village to the bus stand and the less said the better about the bus frequency. Nothing happens here as nobody is bothered about us.”
No competition
There is no competition for Kagodu Thimmappa, stresses 58-year-old Kenchamma from Bhyrapura village. Her family of five has shifted from areca to maize on their four acre farm owing to water scarcity. She is busy threading a fishing net and informs us that it nets her 3-4 kg of fish per day and an earning of `120 per day. This is to sustain her family earnings by doing such odd jobs, but she voices no anger against the veteran leader.
Meanwhile, Girish Gowthampura, a keen political observer adds, “Unfortunately, Kagodu has been bogged down by the issue of Bagir Hukum and granting of forest lands under FRA and so the prevailing problems of water or power shortages have not bothered him much. The caste factor and his political acumen will get him votes while, his old age and arrogance may not matter much. For Halappa, it is too early to deduce anything as a wave of support is slowly gathering momentum.” In fact, local people expected Kagodu Thimmappa’s daughter – Dr Nalini, a practicing gynecologist in Bengaluru — to replace him, but that never happened. The age factor won’t be a poll issue as Kagodu Thimmappa is hale and healthy and very active, says Satish, a former GP member in Avinahalli. “All of us expected his daughter to fill his shoes as she would have received support and backing from party workers and the electorate. But it looks like the Congress got scared and preferred the old man.”
Good Price
The economy of this region is mainly driven by areca and the scene at the Sagar APMC (set up in 1959-60), one of the main markets for betel nut in Karnataka, is pretty volatile. From November to March, white arecanut is harvested and released to the market as hosa adike and it is presently, fetching a good price. An observer at the areca market says, “Prices of white areca have shot up with farmers concentrating more on the red variety. Shortage of white had pushed the prices up by 22- 25% and this trend has been continuing for the last few years. The hike in minimum import price of areca by the Centre has benefited a lot of farmers. But the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court that arecanut can cause oral cancer should be withdrawn and the matter resolved as soon as possible.”