Members of Sugarcane Farmers’ Association staged a demonstration in Mysuru on January 20 demanding release of water from dams for their standing crops.
Led by their president Kurubur Shantakumar, the farmers said there was plenty of rain in the Kabini and the Cauvery catchment areas and adequate storage in reservoirs in Karnataka. Mr. Shantakumar said, on the one hand, farmers are in doldrums due to unseasonal rains, which is having a negative bearing on the yield, and on the other, standing crops are starved of water.
The Association said those endowed with irrigation pump sets to tap ground water are unable to do so due to frequent power outage in rural areas. Farmers are unable to grow fodder as a result of which the cattle population is starving.
The farmers submitted a memorandum to authorities in the irrigation department who promised to take up the issue with higher-ups and release water from the reservoirs by February 10.
The farmers urged the deputy commissioner of Mysuru to ensure completion of procurement process of paddy with minimum support price announced by the government. The farmers want authorities to strike down the regulation that only 10 quintals of ragi and 40 quintals of paddy need to be procured from farmers with small-size land holdings.
The upper limit should be 20 quintals of ragi and 100 quintals of paddy from each farmer, said Mr. Shantakumar.
He accused a few private sugar mills of making unilateral changes in the terms and conditions stipulated by the Karnataka Government for sugarcane procurement.
Hatalli Devaraj, K. Rajanna, K. Mahadevaswamy, Kurubur Siddesh were among the participants.
