Huchappa, a farmer who had come to the polling booth at Hosahalli in Hoskote constituency on Thursday, was very upset with two elections being held back to back — the Lok Sabha polls in April and the Assembly bypolls now.
“The bypolls have disrupted farming in our village as most labourers have been employed by politicians for over a month-and-a-half now,” he said. “There was a similar disruption in April-May during the Lok Sabha elections.”
Explaining the economics of it, Mr. Huchappa said: “We cannot pay like the politicians – ₹800 a day for campaigning apart from food and alcohol. So we cannot find labourers to work in our farms. What we grow in Hoskote is mainly vegetables that need farm-hands every day. Most farmers have incurred losses owing to this.”
The situation is similar in Chickballapur too. Papareddy, who has grown ragi on his two-acre farm, said the crop is yet to be harvested as labour is hard to come by. “The entire taluk has been taken over by electioneering, which is the best time to make some quick money,” he said.
Farmers who grow vegetables in the taluk are also severely hit. Farmer R. Srinivas Gowda said after a long dry spell, there had been good rains recently raising hopes. “But the labour costs have shot up hitting our margins for over a month now,” he said.
Meanwhile, farming in north Karnataka remains largely unaffected as rabi crop is not sown in the region and not much farming activities take place during this time of the year. Though tobacco farmers in Hunsur are facing a steep rise in labour costs, it predates the bypoll campaign and is largely not linked to it, sources said.
