Unable to harvest sugarcane during the lockdown, a farmer at Mukunduru Hosahalli in Hassan taluk has burnt standing crop worth over ₹2 lakh. With this, the work his family put in over a year, besides their investment of ₹80,000, has been reduced to ashes.
Gangadhar Murthy, 63, burnt his standing crop on Thursday and informed the Chamundeshwari Sugar Factory near Channarayapatna, with which he had an agreement to sell sugarcane. He had grown sugarcane on four acres of land, but set fire to crop on an acre and half.
According to the schedule fixed by the sugar factory, the crop should have been lifted from his farm by the first week of April. The factory sent around 15 workers for harvesting in March. But even before they could start work, the COVID-19 lockdown was declared.
“A majority of the workers hired by the factory to harvest sugarcane were from Ballari. Soon after the lockdown was imposed, the workers stopped work and left for their native place,” said Mr. Murthy. He could not get locals to do the work.
He approached the sugar factory officials repeatedly seeking advice. They advised him to wait for a few more days as they were experiencing difficulty in providing workers during the lockdown. “I could not maintain the crop with a constant supply of water. The standing crop started to dry up. When I lost all options to protect it, I set fire to crop grown on one and a half acres,” Mr. Murthy told The Hindu on Sunday.
What remains
He said he had spent money on fertilizers, medicine and labour, taking the total investment to be around ₹1 lakh. The factory had agreed to purchase his crop at a rate of ₹2,550 a tonne. He was expecting around 90 tonnes of sugarcane from his farm. He now remains hopeful the remaining crop will bring him some money.
When this issue was brought to the notice of Deputy Commissioner R. Girish, he told The Hindu that the district administration had tried to resolve the problems faced by sugarcane growers. “Right now, the sugar factory is not functioning. Similarly, factories in the neighbouring Mandya district have been closed. We will see what best can be done,” he said.
