BJP MP BY Raghavendra. Credit: PTI
New Delhi: Shivamogga MP and BJP leader B Y Raghavendra on Thursday urged the Centre to provide relief package to areca nut farmers in Karnataka, who have suffered due to yellow leaf and leaf spot diseases.
Raising the issue as a Zero Hour Mention, the MP said, areca farmers, especially in Karnataka mainly Shivamogga region are facing massive yield losses due to the spread of Yellow Leaf Disease (YLD) and Leaf Spot Disease (LSD), which are devastating entire plantations.
"This disease impact, compounded by continuous heavy rainfall since May this year, has ruined almost the entire crop. Due to this, the areca nut production has dropped drastically, gravely affecting the economic condition of farmers in his constituency," he said.
He urged the Central Government to explore the possibility of extending immediate relief through a special package and implement targeted disease-control measures.
Raghavendra also drew attention of the Government to serious shortcomings in the Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS), which have denied rightful compensation to farmers for Kharif 2024–25 losses.
Nearly 50 per cent of the 100 plus rain gauges in Shivamogga district remain non-functional, he said. Further, the backup weather stations announced by the state government were notified late and located 20–45 km away in regions with entirely different rainfall patterns, making the insurance assessment technically flawed and unjust, he said.
He urged the Union Ministry of Agriculture to intervene immediately and direct the state government to re-calculate WBCIS compensation based on data from the nearest and most climatically accurate weather stations.