H.D. Kumaraswamy, State president of the Janata Dal (Secular), flagged-off a 35-km-long padayatra taken out by party activists to press the Union government to take necessary measures to stabilise arecanut prices, in Anaveri village on Sunday.
The padayatra will pass through Holehonnur and Jaavalli villages and reach Shivamogga city at 1.30 p.m. on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the price of per quintal of arecanut was Rs. 80,000 in June 2014 and has now comedown to Rs. 24,000 now.
This sharp decline in the price of the produce has created an apprehension among its growers, he said.
‘Illegal import’
A large quantity of arecanut is being imported in illegally owing to which the price for the locally-grown arecanut has come down, Mr. Kumaraswamy said. He urged the Union government to impose a total ban on import of arecanut to protect the interests of the farmers.
As the arecanut growers are in financial crises owing to slump in the price, the loan they have borrowed from cooperative and nationalised banks should be waived, he said.
He also expressed displeasure that the process of assessment of crop loss for payment of insurance amount was not done in a scientific manner in drought-affected Sorab taluk. In many places, the officials have prepared the survey report on crop loss without visiting the spot owing to which many farmers have been deprived of the crop insurance amount, he added.
He demanded that the State government undertake a reassessment of the crop loss.
Sharada Poorya Naik, MLA for Shivamogga Rural, Madhu Bangarappa, MLA for Sorab and M. Srikanth, president of the district-unit of JD(S) were present.
