Drought, disease leave coconut growers in distress

Drought and disease have devastated life of coconut growers in the district. Rubbing salt into their wounds is the slump in price of copra and coconut.

Various diseases, including pest attack and stem bleeding, have ravaged crops on thousands of acres. Coconut trees in the rain-fed regions of Madhugiri, Pavagad, Sira and Koratagere have withered, leaving the distraught farmers in debt trap.

The diseases have destroyed crop in and around 15 acres of plantation at Baragur in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk and scores of acres in Hosakere, Nittur, CS Pur hoblis in Gubbi taluk.

The yield has also come down and the price of copra has crashed to Rs 5,200 a quintal from Rs 8,000.

The price of coconut has slumped to Rs 6,000-Rs 7,000 from Rs 10,000. The pest attack has destroyed the plantation in Huliyar hobli while the stem bleeding has caused damage in Turuvekere taluk.

Upset over the loss, as many as 17 farmers have committed suicide in the district, but no measures have been taken so far by the authorities concerned to bail out the farmers.

Prasad, assistant director, Horticulture department, said that pesticides have been distributed among farmers at a subsidised rate, but the spread of diseases has not come under control.

“Excess use of chemical fertiliser and depletion of ground water table have aggravated the problem,” he said.

The financial distress has forced women from the villages to go on mass exodus to the cities and towns in search of job, said K S Sadashivaiah, a member of Krishika Samaja.

More than the diseases, crash in the price has hurt the farmers more, said Kenkere Satish, district convenor of Hasiru Sene.

He said the government should come to the rescue of the growers by purchasing the copra, by opening the centres of National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Societies Federation of India (Nafed). 

The farmers from the district had taken a delegation to Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda, seeking subsidy, but to no avail.

The Central government has announced a support price of Rs 5,300. The State government has so far not done anything to alleviate the sufferings of the coconut growers, the farmers alleged.

Besides, the State government has not given permission for byproducts of coconut such as chocolate made of ‘neera’ which is popular in Sri Lanka, they said.