Progressive farmer Dummalli Shivamma has urged the Union and the State governments to waive the loans taken by farmers from nationalised and cooperative banks.
Ms. Shivamma was speaking after inaugurating the Raitha Dasara, a programme organised for farmers as part of the Shivamogga Dasara at Kuvempu Rangamandir here on Wednesday.
The agricultural sector in Karnataka was facing a severe crisis owing to drought and slump in the prices of agriculture produce, including arecanut, pomegranate, silk cocoons and sugarcane. Farmers were in dire straits owing to these problems. It was obligatory on the part of government to rescue farmers at this period of crisis by waiving the loans, she said.
Ms. Shivamma expressed displeasure against the loan recovery policy being adopted by the banks. While industrialists, who had borrowed large sums were spared, the banks were issuing notices to small and marginal farmers, who have borrowed paltry sums of money. Farmers get perturbed by such bank notices and therefore resorted to take extreme steps, she said.
Addressing the gathering, Chairman of State Legislative Council D.H. Shankaramurthy said that farmers, who provided food security to the nation through their dedicated and relentless hard work, were facing financial crisis. It was necessary to ensure remunerative prices for agricultural produce amd improve the financial condition of farmers, he said.
C. Vasudevappa, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga, suggested the farmers to go for multiple-cropping to enhance their income. The price of paddy, that was being cultivated in vast tracts of land in Malnad region, had come down in recent times. Farmers should therefore cultivate other crops that were suitable for the soil and climatic conditions of the region, along with paddy. In addition, it was necessary to develop an integrated approach towards farming. Along with agriculture, farmers should undertake diary farming, poultry farming and sheep rearing, he said.In the wake of labour shortage, it was necessary to mechanise farming, he said and stressed the need to integrate agriculture with school curriculum and thereby, create interest among students towards the subject.
Prior to the programme, farmers mounted on bullock carts, took out a procession through the main streets of the city.
