THRISSUR: The issues raised by a section of paddy farmers including film director Sathyan Anthikad who boycotted farming activities and decided to leave cultivable land fallow at Anthikad in Thrissur, the constituency of Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar, is likely to be resolved with the intervention of the minister. Sunil Kumar told Express, “I have directed the principal agriculture officer in Thrissur to take the initiative to form a temporary committee comprising striking farmers under the direct supervision of the department officials to undertake farming activities in the current season.
The issue is not related to the department or agriculture but it is about the power struggle between two sections of farmers. The state government will not allow the cultivable land to be left fallow in any circumstances,” he said. A section of farmers in Kanjamkolu in Anthikad are demanding a separate committee of the farmers in the region stating that the present samiti has failed to protect their interests.
Further, the present Anthikad Padasekhara Samiti, which controls large swathes of fields, is a temporary one after the previous permanent committee was disbanded. Despite a court order to hold fresh elections, the authorities have been delaying the process citing flimsy reasons, which provoked the farmers to boycott farming activities though they had prepared the fields for farming.
Rajesh C V, organiser of the striking paddy farmers, said, “We are happy to know that the agriculture department is finally taking the initiative to form a temporary samiti exclusively for the striking farmers in the Kanjamkolu. Along with this, the department should hold fresh elections to the Anthikad Padasekhara Samiti, which is one of the long-pending demands of the farmers here, as soon as the Covid restrictions are eased. Due to the vested interests of a section, we had suffered heavy losses last time.
Further, we have been demanding two cycles of cultivation in one season, which is not accepted because of the business interests of some members, who want to carry out duck rearing and aquafarming,” he said. “We are yet to get an official communication. Once a formal communication is received from the department accepting our major demands, we will call off the strike and resume farming,” he said.
Earlier, Sathyan Anthikad, who owns around 2.5 acres of paddy field in the area, along with around 195 farmers warned of an indefinite strike until their demands are met.