L.V. Shivappa (50), a farmer in the district, cut down his mosambi (sweet lime) plants and set them ablaze on his farm, near Halebidu in Belur taluk on Tuesday.
The non-availability of water and the failure of seven borewells that he had drilled one after the other in last two years forced him to take this step.
Interestingly, five years ago, Mr. Shivappa was in the media for being the first to take up mosambi cultivation in Hassan district and succeeding in his efforts. Now, he is in the news again for reducing the fruit plants to ashes.
Mr. Shivappa is one of the vice-presidents of the Hassan district unit of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha. He was interested in conducting experiments on his 3.5 acre farm at Lingayyana Koplu. Seven years ago, he was part of a tour organised by the Horticulture Department to Belgaum district where he had the chance to interact with mosambi growers at Gokak.
Past success
“Following the tour, I decided to grow mosambi on one and a half an acres of land. I bought mosambi saplings for Rs. 260 each from Gokak. My experiment was successful, though the Horticulture Department officers suggested I do not grow mosambi,” he said.
With a total of 230 plants on his farm, he managed to obtain a good yield for three years. “I was getting two crops a year and each season brought in a good income. Annually, my income from the mosambi farm was about Rs. 1.25 lakh. However, in the last two years, the plants started dying,” he said.
Dried-up borewells
A dip in rainfall and a decrease in the yield of the borewells started affecting the plants.
In 2015 and 2016, Shivappa spent nearly Rs. 6 lakh on digging seven borewells on his farm consecutively. “Each borewell was 700-800 ft deep. I did not get water from them. In the last one year, nearly 200 of my mosambi plants died. Only around 30 were left, I cut them down and set them on fire,” he said.
Mr. Shivappa, the father of two children, is now left with his coconut farm spread over two acres.
He has taken a loan of up to Rs. 10 lakh from private persons. “I could not take a loan from the bank as the land on which I have been cultivating is still in my father’s name,” he said.
Lack of benefits
He also did not enjoy any benefits such as subsidies from the State government in any form for taking up horticulture. He now plans to grow ragi on his farm.
“We live about 13 kms away from Yagachi reservoir in Belur, yet we don’t have sufficient water to drink, let alone for agriculture purposes. We, the farmers in Halebidu hobli, have appealed to the State government several times to irrigate our land, but have failed to get a response,” he said.
The farmers in Halebid hobli have appealed to the State government several times to irrigate our lands, but there has been no response so far.
L.V. Shivanna
Farmer
Mr. Shivappa says that despite repeated appeals, the State government has not responded even once.
