When sugarcane turns bitter, run the tractor over them!

Ballari: In a  grim reminder of the plight of farmers in the state, a farmer from Kalaghatta village in Hosapete taluk on Monday bid goodbye to sugarcane cultivation destroying his six-month old cane crop.

35-year old farmer Manjugouda has grown sugarcane in his 9.5 acre agricultural field which is now drying up with no water to irrigate it. Manjugouda said, he decided to destroy his standing crop fearing that it will get completely dried up as there is no sign of water flow into Tungabhadra reservoir at Hosapete. Besides a sugar factory at Hosapete which procured his cane last year is yet to pay him Rs 3 lakh and till date, there is no clear assurance on the payment.

“The six-month old crop would take at least another 10 months for harvesting. By the time sugar cane is ready for harvesting, sugar factories would have stopped buying cane for crushing. Then, I have to wait for another 10 months. So, altogether I have to wait for 27 months, if I have to sell cane and get returns for my investment. The interest on the loans taken from the bank will mount. To add to it, I cannot grow other crops in the land. Hence, I have decided to destroy the standing sugarcane crop to ready the land for cultivation of maize and sunflower,” says, Manjugouda.

Though the inordinate delay in payments by sugar mills, uncertainty over price fixation and bad loans are considered prime reasons for farmers destroying the  cane crop, cane growers in the catchment area of Tungabhadra reservoir are facing acute shortage of water. With the depletion of water in Tungabhadra reservoir, water supply through canals to the fields in Ballari, Koppal and parts of Raichur district has been stopped since April.  Add to it, failure of monsoon and dried up borewells have been forcing farmers to destroy standing crop which are getting dried for want of wetting and are feared of drought-like situation in coming days.

Recently, two small and marginal farmers had set the standing cane crop at Narayan Devara Kere in Hagari Bommanahalli taluk on fire. Their borewell had gone dry due to depletion of the groundwater table as the backwaters of the Tungabhadra dam had receded. Moreover, due to lack of moisture, the crop was affected by root grub disease. With no other option, the farmers set the dried crop ablaze.

The situation is no different in Koppal, Betageri, Gangavati, Sindhanur region where farmers have destroyed sugarcane that was damaged by unseasonal rains.

Mysuru ZP to SMS farmers on schemes
In the wake of increasing farmer  suicides, Mysuru ZP is contemplating  sending voice SMSes to inform them of various schemes of the agriculture and allied departments and also the weather forecast. The ZP has identified 3,32,000 farmers in the district. Mysuru ZP Chairperson Dr Pushpa Amarnath has directed the ZP CEO to collect mobile numbers of farmers through the respective PDOs of  Gram Panchayats.