While urban areas in the State are adapting themselves to the changed scenario after the demonetisation of high-value notes, rural areas, especially farmers, continue to be under duress even 50 days after demonetisation.
With no improvement in cash flow in villages, there are no takers for farmers’ produce. The fall in demand has triggered a drop in prices of agricultural produce.
In Hassan district, many farmers have kept their stocks of potato, maize, ginger, and other crops as there are no buyers.
As those who harvested potato in September/October got ₹16 a kg, the farmers who were harvesting the produce in November/December were hoping for a further increase in prices. But, much to their dismay, prices have crashed to ₹10 a kg.
In this situation, many have not sold their produce. “Three truckloads of potato have remained unsold in our village,” said Papaiah, a farmer from Marenahalli near Mosale Hosahalli in Hassan taluk. But the stock has started to perish forcing some of them to sell at ₹4 a kg.
The case of maize growers is no different. The price of maize has dropped to ₹1,300-1,400 a quintal from the level of ₹1,600-1,700 before demonetisation. Also, farmers have to bear transportation cost as traders have stopped farm-gate purchases after demonetisation in most of the areas.
The coffee growers are also hit as demonetisation has coincided with the harvest season. A coffee planter with 25 acres of plantation needs to pay wages of about ₹45,000 a week as he hires about 25 labourers. But, one can only withdraw a maximum of ₹24,000 a week from the banks, say planters.
U.M. Thirthamallesh, secretary of the Karnataka Coffee Growers’ Federation, says, “Because of the cash crisis, planters are hiring less number of workers this year, resulting in delayed picking, which may affect the quality of coffee beans, besides harming the plants in the long run.”
In northern districts like Kalaburagi, farm labourers have started demanding a part of the harvested produce as their wages instead of accepting money, as several landlords are trying to give them old currency notes.
What has added to the woes of farmers is that most of the ATMs in rural areas have remained closed due to paucity of cash.
