Humble peasants they might be, the totagars (horticulturists) of Sirsi are building a grand future for themselves. Having steadily achieved the grassroots farmers' unity on a co-operative platform, the areca farmers in the three taluks of Sirsi, Siddapur and Yellapur are now envisioning grandiose projects. Earlier this year the Totagars’ Seva Samiti (TSS) commissioned the state-of-the art, 160-bed Shripad Hegde Kadave Institute of Medical Sciences at Sirsi. Last year, it became the first co-operative society in the nation to issue ATM cards to farmers and install the first ever ATM centre in the little town in Sahyadri hills.

Established by Shripad Hegde Kadave in 1927, the society is today headed by the founder's equally illustrious son-in-law, Mr Shantharam Hegde, who is a household name in Sirsi. Indefatigable efforts by Hegde and his industrious colleagues have paid rich dividends. The 4,000-and-odd farmers who comprise the TSS, today rule the hearts of farmers in the three taluks that are known for their rich and varied horticultural produce. January 28 this year was a red letter day for this hilly town when Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna formally commissioned the hospital which has an OPD, maternity, general medicine, general surgery, ophthalmology, dental, orthopedics, pediatric departments and modern diagnostic gizmos such as MRI scan, CT scan, X-ray, radiology lab, and dialysis unit together with blood storage. A hospital of this magnitude would have been a distant dream for the people of Sirsi, had there been no TSS. Raising Rs 15 crore was no small feat.

The confidence the TSS had won with the farmers by emancipating them from the clutches of commission agents stood them in good stead and they contributed Rs 6 crore over the last one decade for the hospital.

The Government of Karnataka chipped in by allotting them 6.5 acres of land at a nominal price in the outskirts of the town. Remainder of the funds was pooled in from investors who extended interest-free loans in units of Rs 50,000. Lo and behold! The gleaming four-storey hospital building stands majestically, turning visitors’ heads. It is manned by nearly 200 specialists and paramedical personnel.

According to Shantharam Hegde, the hospital was a dire necessity for the farmers who had no medical facility in a radius of 125 km around Sirsi and precious lives were lost while transporting critically ill patients to Mangalore or Hubli on the circuitous ghat roads.

But hospital is not the latest feather in the cap of TSS. Only last month, the TSS commissioned two huge cold storages for storing the areca harvest. It is expected to be a boon for farmers who can now store almost 5,000 quintals of arecanut in wait for better prices in the market, thereby lending the farmers sustaining capacity. The storages built at a cost of Rs 1.25 crore can preserve the harvest for two years.

The TSS' has been a saga of struggle and trepidation. The TSS ensured that farmers were free from the clutches of loan sharks by providing them with loans on easy interest rates. Gradually, it stepped up its positive interference in the farmers' operations by setting up a grocery store, a rice mill and a petrol bunk for supplying fuel for tractors. A supari grading unit was set up to segregate the nuts on the basis of size. Today it also runs a lodging i.e., Samrat Hotel, in the town and of course, the hospital.

According to Dr Vinayak Hegde, the Kadave Institute of Medical Sciences entertains almost 20 farmer-patients under the State Government's Yashaswini medical insurance scheme everyday.

Under the scheme, the farmers have to merely pay a token amount of five rupees every year. The Government has reimbursed a maximum of Rs 28,000 for a farmer who had to undergo a dissection of thyroid for cancer last year. Besides, farmer-patients who are shareholders receive a discount of 25 per cent on medical expenses.
Gradually, the TSS has taken under its fold farmers engaged in the cultivation of cardamom, vanilla and pepper too. While it has over 4,000 farmers as shareholders, the number of beneficiaries in the families reaches up to 20,000.

Visionary measures taken by the early leaders of the movement have ensured that the land's bounty remains with the peasants. They get the most out of it through price stabilisation of their produce and develop withholding capacity on their fruits of labour in order to dictate prices rather than fall victim to the machinations of middlemen.