Pomegranate growers seek Rs 338-cr loan waiver

Pest infestation and inclement weather has left the growers in a dire situation

The pomegranate farmers of Karnataka, who have been demanding the waiver of their loans and the interest accumulated over the years, have intensified their protest to get the government to meet their demands.

The growers of the fruit that is grown across 13 districts of the state, have been facing a lot of difficulties due to pest infestation, diseases and inclement weather that have left almost all growers with piles of debts.

The 7,500-odd horticulturists who have taken to pomegranate cultivation in the state have till now piled on debts of over Rs 338.28 crore, according to data from the State Level Bankers’ Committee or the SLBC.

“Even the one-time settlement plan announced by the government will be of no help because the scheme mandates that we have to pay 20-30 per cent of the outstanding amount upfront. But, that gives no relief,” said Abdul Nayeem, President of Pomegranate Growers Action Committee.

The farmers, who have taken to growing pomegranate, over the last decade or so have ended up being heavily indebted to banks and are caught between Scylla and Charybdis.

“We can’t uproot the plants as the banks who lent us the money for pomegranate plantation, won’t allow us to do so,” said a grower Jayanna from Sira, adding “we are caught in vicious cycle as we can’t grow anything else as we can’t uproot the pomegranate plants.”

Jayanna has 17 acres and he had borrowed Rs 15 lakh, and he has repaid Rs 10 lakh. “Yet, I owe Rs 35-36 lakh to the banks,” he told Business Standard.

Similar is the condition of most pomegranate farmers, numbering about 250, who were in Bengaluru to submit a memorandum to the governor asking him to bail them out.

The growers have been suffering such a situation from 2004 or so, and have been on a protest path for the last eight years or so, said a grower S R Kulkarni from Koppal.