The untimely heavy rain coupled with hailstorm that lashed different parts of Chitradurga district last week has worsened the condition of farmers who had been bearing the brunt of two consecutive years of drought.
According to official sources, the hailstorm destroyed horticulture crops on more than 521 hectares in Chitradurga, Hiriyur and Challakere taluks and the crop loss has been estimated at Rs. 29 crore. The rain in March had also led to crop loss, sources said.
Farmers had borrowed money from different sources expecting a good rain this year. But the untimely showers dashed their hopes and most of them are neck deep in debt.
The sources said onion on 130 hectares worth Rs. 38 lakh, banana on 69 hectares worth Rs. 36.2 lakh, arecanut on 50 hectares worth Rs. 13.3 lakh, pomegranate on 136 hectares worth Rs. 1.63 crore, and papaya on 35 hectares worth Rs. 21.2 lakh were destroyed. Farmers say they will get only a meagre amount as compensation owing to the unscientific methods used for assessing crop loss.
As per the proposals submitted to the State government, the farmers will get Rs. 6 lakh for onion, Rs. 2.5 lakh for banana, Rs. 5 lakh for arecanut, Rs. 10 lakh for pomegranate and Rs. 1 lakh for papaya. Moreover, they will have to wait for nearly a year to get it.
“The compensation provided by the authorities will not be of any help to farmers as they will have to look after their families after repaying their debt. The farmers will continue to suffer from financial crisis if the government fails to follow systematic methods to measure crop loss and provide suitable compensation to farmers,” sources added.