Farmers in Ron and Naragund in Gadag district invested all their money to grow sugarcane, cotton, sunflower, wheat and other crops. They were about to harvest the produce this month, but the incessant rain brought ruin and despair.
This is the predicament of lakhs of farmers across Karnataka, who have been impacted by heavy rain and flooding, and are facing humongous crop loss.
According to officials in the agriculture department, crops standing on 10,06,461 hectares have been damaged -- this includes 8,91,197 hectares of agricultural crops, 1,03,254 hectares of horticulture crops and 12,014 hectares of plantations.
Gadag’s 14 villages witnessed complete crop loss on a total of 96,000 hectares, with fertile soil being washed away. But the actual crop damage in the district is yet to be estimated. Farmers are panicky about their future, as they don’t have money to repay loans, let alone spend on their children’s education or weddings.
A farmer in Shirahatti village in Gadag says, “Most farmers lost their incomes due to continuous rain for the past two weeks in the district. All the crops were damaged. If the situation continues, we will face financial ruin as we don’t have money to invest in the next season, and it is very difficult to arrange money. Government officials make many promises, but how many of us will get proper help?”
This is the fifth time villages in the district are getting inundated due to rain and water release from the Naviluteertha dam in August and September. The state government has provided houses to all villagers under Awas Yojana by creating new villages (some are yet to get) but water has been entering their farms. Farmers at Ron and Naragund say water released from the Malaprabha last week forced them to stay away from their fields.
Ron Tahsildar Vani Unki said, “We visited the flood-affected villages and I have instructed officials to do the needful. We have also warned people not to go near Bennehalla and Holealur river.”
Trapped in debt circle
Sannegowda, a farmer in Kattaya village of Hassan district, took a crop loan of Rs 50,000, and Rs 1.50 lakh from a money lender by pledging gold kept for his daughter’s wedding. The standing crops of maize, green chilli and tomato, grown on 1.5 acres, were destroyed due to heavy rain and flooding. “Now how can I repay the loan borrowed from the moneylender? How can I get back the gold ornaments for my daughter’s wedding?” he laments.
The inter-ministerial Central study team, constituted to assess crop loss and damage, has not visited Hassan district. Standing crops, including paddy, ginger, potato and maize have are lost. Pepper and coffee have been damaged in Alur, Sakleshpur and Belur taluks in Malnad, as heavy rain lashed the district almost continuously for 20 days.
The farmers allege that the state and Centre neglected the agriculture-based district of Hassan where 20 tanks, including five major ones, breached in Channarayapatna and Arasikere taluks. Sources say standing crops over 700 acres have been destroyed, 250 houses and 125 government schools were partially damaged and 30 houses collapsed in the district. About Rs 168 crore worth of public and private properties, including standing crops, were damaged.
Despite that, the Central team omitted Hassan district from its tour programme while visiting the adjacent districts of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar, drawing ire from Belur MLA KS Lingesh, Holenarasipur MLA HD Revanna and Sakleshpur MLA HK Kumaraswamy.
Running short of fertilisers
The farmers were put to hardship even to get adequate volumes of fertilisers, and curse the agriculture department for failing to provide enough fertilisers in time. Criticising elected representatives for neglecting farmers, Narasaiah, a potato and ginger grower of Shantigrama, says the government is yet to compensate their crop losses. Farmers of Shivamogga district, who lost their crops to excess rainfall, are demanding crop loss compensation soon. They allege that with excess rainfall, farmers who are dependent on one particular crop for their livelihood have lost the sole source of income, forcing them into daily wage work for their families’ survival.
According to data from the agriculture and horticulture departments, a total of 3,290 hectares suffered crop loss, worth Rs 233.39lakh, in Shivamogga district. Among the crops, maize and paddy are the most affected -- 2,300 hectares of maize and 894 hectares of paddy were lost.
Syed Rehmatulla, a farmer from Ramanagara village of Shivamogga taluk, told TNIE that he lost maize cultivated on 10 acres of land. He also cultivated ginger on two acres, worth Rs 7 lakh, which was affected by heavy rain. “We are clueless about our future. All our crops failed due to excess rainfall. We have to wait till next year as we are dependent on one crop a year. We don’t even have a borewell. We are not able to repay loans, and with no income, we have to turn to daily wage work. Fearing a financial crisis, we admitted our children to government schools instead of sending them to private educational institutions as we can’t afford donations,” he said.
He claimed he has not received a single penny from the government in compensation so far, and doubts that an adequate amount will ever be given. He alleged that the government is not trying to make the lives of farmers better, instead, it is raising prices of essential commodities. The farming community is the most affected by inflation, he said.
Dharwad district witnessed about 85 per cent more rainfall in a season, causing crop loss on 46,000 hectares. Navalgund and Annigeri taluks witnessed major loss due to heavy rain and floods.
So far, three people have died due to floods and 1,172 houses have been damaged. As much as Rs 4 crore has been deposited as compensation for over 2,000 farmers, the district administration said. This season, farmers had sown green gram, cotton and other similar crops, and are now in utter loss. Crops were ready for harvest, but were destroyed.
“We are finding it difficult to lead a normal life. Compensation will not even be adequate to pay our loans,” says a farmer from Navalgund.
Meagre crop compensation
Meanwhile, Harish Madappa, secretary, Kodagu Growers’ Federation, says crop compensation released under the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) scheme is meagre. “The NDRF compensation amount was fixed years ago, and has not been revised. Fertiliser cost, labour expenses and other maintenance costs have shot up, but the grower is eligible only for a maximum compensation of Rs 36,000 for a maximum two hectare crop loss. Even MLAs and ministers’ salaries have been hiked by 50 per cent in the recent past, but compensation amount has remained the same. This is adding fuel to our burning problems,” concluded Harish.
In Chitradurga and Davangere, excess rain that lashed the districts till September 9 has dashed the dreams of farmers, who were expecting a good crop yield. Although the ground water level has improved, rain has multiplied their woes. According to the agricultural department, the district was expecting 312.5mm rainfall, but this year, rainfall is 640.9mm, which is 105 per cent above normal rains.
The extent of crop loss was estimated at 69,209.80 hectares in rain-fed areas, and compensation of Rs 4,555.84 lakh is being demanded from the government. In irrigated areas, crops on 1948.67 hectares were lost, and Rs 250.44 lakh in compensation has been estimated. In total, the district lost crops standing on 71158.47 hectares, and total compensation of Rs 4806.27 lakh is expected.
Onion crop, standing on approximately 9,000 hectares, and groundnut in 8,000 hectares, are also damaged, dashing the hopes of farmers generating good revenue.
Mallikarjun, an onion grower at Dodda Siddavanahalli village, said, “With an intention of harvesting good crop, we sowed the seeds in June. However, the relentless rain for the past three years has devastated hopes of harvesting the onion crop, already hit by blight and bulb rot disease. I have suffered a total loss of Rs 20 lakh, which I got from banks, and hand loans from local financiers.”
FERTILISER SHORTAGE, SUBSTANDARD SEEDS
Farmers across the state have been reporting shortage of fertilisers, too. However, Agriculture Minister BC Patil says there is no shortage of fertilisers. “Opposition is creating confusion and playing politics on this,” he says. In the past three years, the vigilance section of the agriculture department seized substandard seeds and fertilisers worth Rs 28 crore. This is the highest in the history of Karnataka. “Earlier, we had only two vigilance divisions, one at Belagavi and another at Bengaluru.
Now we have four, with two more in Mysuru and Kalaburagi. We are committed to safeguard farmers,” he said.KH Ravi, Joint Director, Agriculture Department, however, admitted that although there is no shortage of fertilisers, there are lapses in the fertiliser distribution system. Agriculture Minister BC Patil, however, says: “We have estimated a loss of crops grown on 7.62 lakh hectares across the state. The state government has released compensation in two instalments, Rs 116 crore and Rs 221 crore.”
KODAGU HIT FOURTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR
This is the fourth consecutive year that growers and farmers of Kodagu are facing crop loss due to floods, landslides and incessant rainfall. “Our earnings have been wiped out, and most of us are repaying loans,” laments Harish Madappa, a small grower and secretary of Kodagu Growers Federation. He says growers have suffered absolute crop loss since 2018. “Rain continues till October, and we cannot carry out maintenance work of the estates – which has affected the yield.
To add to our growing woes, the rate of fertilisers is touching the skies. New and unknown brands of fertilisers are being sold at high prices, and we are unable to get the desired brand. Earlier, we used to mix the fertilisers ourselves, depending on the crops, as not all crops require all the nutrients in equal quantity. But now, we cannot use urea, potash or DAP, and are forced to buy unknown brands of fertilizers,” he says, adding that cost of fertiliser has increased by 40 per cent and potash by 90 per cent in the past eight months.
VALUABLE INSURANCE
Agriculture Minister Patil says apart from compensation, farmers who have registered with insurance companies can also claim it. Farmers who have sown seeds and suffered damage can avail 25 per cent of the amount, and if sowing is done and is at the crop stage, they can avail the full amount. “We are appealing to farmers to get their crops insured. In Karnataka, there are more than 18 lakh farmers registered under insurance. Whoever has faced crop damage can apply,” he says.
Inputs from
Ashwini M Sripad/Bengaluru; Raghu Koppar/Gadag; Udaya Kumar BR/Hassan; Arpitha I/Shivamogga; Mallikarjun Hiremath/Dharwad; Prajna GR/Kodagu; & G Subhash Chandra/Chitradurga/Davanagere