Ex-CM of Karnataka seeks bailing out redgram farmers

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has urged the government to bail out red gram (tur dal) farmers who are in distress due to drop in yield this year. The government should come to the rescue of the farmers and open procurement centres and purchase their produce.

In a letter to chief minister Siddaramaiah, the JD(S) leader said that farmers are selling their produce for lower prices as they are in deep debt trap. Since the crop is also very low this year, the farmers are unable to recover their investment and are forced to sell their crop to middlemen.

“The government should open procurement centres in Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Yadgir and Bijapur districts and start purchasing redgram from the farmers immediately,” he said.

Normally, the state-owned Tur Development Board, based in Gulbarga procures redgram from the farmers directly.

This year, the farmers of these districts had sown redgram in about 750,000 acres. For the last 3-4 years rainfall percentage had declined drastically leading to lower yields for farmers. This has led to severe burden on the farmers of redgram and it is high time the government comes to the rescue of farmers in these districts, Kumaraswamy said.

Gulbarga district in northern Karnataka contributes 15 per cent of the national tur output. This year, tur was cultivated over 800,000 hectares and the estimated production was around 560,000 tonnes from here.

The cost of cultivation of red gram has seen a steep rise due to rise in input costs. The prices of fertiliser (DAP) have gone up by 2.5 times to Rs 1,350 a bag as against Rs 530 a bag last year. Besides, labour shortage has resulted in the rise of daily wages for farm labourers.

The total cost of cultivation per acre amounts to Rs 12,000-14,000, which means the cost of cultivation per quintal of tur has touched Rs 4,500 a quintal as against the MSP of Rs 4,300 a quintal, making it uneconomical for the farmer to grow, farmer leaders said.

This year, the farmers in northern Karnataka districts, where red gram is predominantly grown, witnessed a widespread damage to the red gram crop due to Helen cyclone effect and the rains thereafter, which was followed by heavy fog for three days subsequently. According to the estimates by the state agriculture department, the crop damage is about 80 per cent in Chincholi taluk and 70 per cent in Chittapur taluk.

The drop in production was 50 per cent across the state.