The agrarian crisis in the post-flood period will be a major issue for the farm-based economy of Idukki district, especially the High Ranges that witnessed the suicide of seven farmers.
Both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) campaigns in the interior areas of the district highlight the issue ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, apart from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kerala Congress (M) working chairman P.J. Joseph, inaugurating a UDF district leaders’ meet to campaign for the front’s candidate Dean Kuriakose, said the farm sector had become an arena of unfulfilled promises.
This was because of the lack of importance given to the sector, which was the backbone of the district. The prices of cash crop such as pepper and coffee were falling.
Large tracts of agricultural land were lost in the August floods.
Special package
LDF candidate Joice George, who has already completed the first round of campaigning in the seven Assembly constituencies here, said he would stand for the farmers’ cause.
A special package would be announced for the sector, he said.
Mr. Kuriakose and Mr. George were the main opponents in the last Lok Sabha elections too.
The main issue raised then was the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report. Mr. George was fielded as the candidate of the High Range Samrakshana Samithy, an umbrella organisation of different religious groups under the Church.
He was supported by the LDF, resulting his victory.
Mr. Kuriakose was live in the district with a hunger strike he staged a few weeks ago at Kattappana.
Rising the issue of farmers’ suicide, the UDF, led by Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, had also held a hunger agitation recently at Kattappana.
According to an LDF leader, the crisis in the farm sector was real.
Many farmers were provided aid, he said.
Though cardamom prices did not fall steadily, large areas under cultivation were lost in the August floods.
In addition, drought destroyed cardamom plantations at Udumbanchola and Peerumade.
Tea plantations that provide large-scale employment are also facing a crisis. Two main estates in the Peerumade taluk have been closed down for over a decade. The living condition of estate workers is pathetic.
A large number of them are from Tamil Nadu and they form a major section of voters in the Peerumade, Devikulam, and Udumbanchola Assembly constituencies.
The continuing crisis in the rubber-cultivating areas of the low ranges would also influence the voters, according to a UDF activist at Thodupuzha.
Idukki is yet to recover from the damage caused by the August deluge. And it will surely impact the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections.
