“Now I understand why so many farmers commit suicide in our country,” says Chandsab from Kadagamdoddi village near Raichur city, sitting in the middle of his field of decaying tomatoes. He has invested in one acre of land this year, spending around Rs. 30,000, and got a bumper crop. But the glut in production and the resulting crash in prices have meant selling them for between Rs. 30 and Rs. 50 for a 25-kg container of tomatoes for the last 20 days. Now, the rate has further dropped, and he has decided not to harvest tomatoes.
The situation has pushed Mr. Chandsab’s 10-member family into despair. The family has 2.5 acres of dry land and a loan of Rs. 3 lakh. He recently got two borewells dug, one of which failed and the other is giving negligible yield even after digging 450 ft deep. His previous attempts at sinking borewells too failed. “My hope of repaying loans is dashed. I don’t know how I will even pay the interest now, let alone think of getting my three unmarried daughters married,” said Mr. Chandsab.
As yet another price crash has hit all major tomato-growing areas in the State, similar stories of distress are common in the farming community: of being caught in debt traps and not being able to make ends meet.
Nagarajappa, a small farmer who grew tomato in an acre of land at Mallasandra in Kolar, invested Rs. 1 lakh, of which Rs. 50,000 was a loan. He was hoping to earn between Rs. 3 lakh and Rs. 3.5 lakh. However, given the situation, he is lucky if he earns Rs. 20,000.
“It is not possible to even meet the labour charges of plucking the crop and transporting it to the market,” Mr. Nagarajappa on Sunday. The situation is so bad that even meeting the frugal daily expenses would have been hard for the 55-year-old farmer’s family but for the fact that they sell milk and make some money out of it every day.
