PERAMBALUR: Farmers have complained every year lives are lost to pesticide poisoning. They said the deaths have gone uncompensated despite the pesticides being prescribed by Agriculture department officials. On December 25, Perambalur farmer K Ramasamy (65) of Keezha Perambalur died in Tiruchy Government Hospital. He had been transferred from Perambalur GH where he was admitted with complaints of pesticide poisoning. Reportedly, he was spraying pesticide on his cotton crop when he fell unconscious and suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea and admitted to hospital. Earlier this year, the father of four lost one son who lived with him.
His family and other farmers said the pesticides provided were ineffective. leading to continuous spraying which eventually led to poisoning. Many farmers said they had to spray more than five pesticides on cotton, maize and castor crops. They alleged Agriculture department officials did not guide them properly with recommendations.
Farmers have been cultivating large quantities of cotton since 2008 in Perambalur district. But after the crops were affected by excessive pest attacks, they complained of having to spray pesticides excessively in recent years.
Since 2014, there have been five deaths. The first death reported in this period was of K Palanivel (40) of Keezha Perambalur who died on December 31, 2014 because of pesticide inhalation and poisoning. He grew cotton. Though the farmers stated more lives have been lost, reported deaths are of four farmers — R Raja (35), S Selvam (27), R Ramalingam (53) and P Arjunan (55). The four were cotton farmers who died in 2017.
Though it was recommended to farmers to switch to maize, the widespread fall armyworm attacks discouraged them. Moreover, they had to spray more pesticides. Later, it was suggested they cultivate castor, but farmers said even after spraying pesticides at least 10 times, pests continued to run amok. This year, over 2,300 acres were planted with cotton in Keezha Perambalur, but they came under attack by pests. Farmers said they were spraying over five pesticides on these crops to control the menace.
‘Not received complaints about pests’
When contacted, Perambalur Joint Director of Agriculture A Ganesan said, “There has not been any complaints about pests in cotton crops. Also, farmers unnecessarily spray pesticides on castor crops, which is why there are problems. At present, it is the harvest period for cotton crops. Pest attack reports on cotton are declining.” He added, “We were not made aware of farmer Ramasamy’s death. We will check on it and forward farmers’ their concerns and also look into the issue ourselves.”