Flawed rules for crop loss aid ruin tur dal farmers’ lives

Debt burden and harassment by local money lenders had added to crop loss due to excess rainfall and wilt disease

Dejected over crop loss due to excess rainfall and wilt disease, Santosh Jadhav, a 33-year-old tur dal farmer from Kodadur in Kalagi taluk of Kalaburagi district, died by suicide last week.

Debt burden and harassment by local money lenders had added to his agony.

Santosh is one of 25 farmers who died by suicide due to crop loss in the district since November, according to the district crime records bureau (DCRB). A majority of these farmers are tur dal growers.

He had taken 30 acres on lease as cultivating on just one-and-a-half acres, which he owned, was not enough to make ends meet for his family of five.

The farmer had taken a loan to be able to afford seeds, fertilizers and labour. He was also paying Rs 15,000 per acre as lease amount for the land. The loss of crops and mounting interest dealt a severe blow.

Agrarian distress has compounded in the area as compensation for crop loss often does not reach tenant farmers.

Deputy commissioner Yeshwanth Gurukar said tenants were not entitled to compensation and it would only be distributed to those who have ownership rights.

“We have distributed input subsidies for 1.8 lakh hectares and disbursed Rs 240 crore in compensation, which is a record in Karnataka. We have disbursed these funds in a short span of two months,” he adds.

More than 80% of farmers in the district grow tur dal on leased land. In Kalaburagi, 4.87 lakh hectares are under tur dal cultivation.

The agriculture department estimates that crops in 1.29 lakh hectares were destroyed due to heavy rainfall and floods last year. It also estimated that crops in 1.9 lakh hectares in Kalaburagi were damaged due to wilt disease. Tur crop grown in Bidar and Yadgir districts are also hit by the disease.

Farmer Siddappa Uppani was witness to a similar situation in Mangalagi village. His son Jagannath Uppani ended his life, blaming crop loss on five acres of land.

“Under normal circumstances, we would get at least 20 quintals from five acres. This year, we got only three quintals due to rains,” says Siddappa, who faces a debt burden.

Farmers in his village are forced to use the crop as cattle feed as there are no takers for crops affected by wilt disease.

Imports may worsen crisis

The union government’s decision to import 10 lakh tonnes of tur dal has created panic among farmers.

Due to reduced yield, prices are hovering around Rs 7,400 per quintal. They fear that prices will drop further when imported crops hit the market.

Mechanical engineer Ajay Jadhav, brother of a deceased farmer, recalls that the government’s policy to import tur dal affected farmers in 2014 and 2018. In these years, there was a drastic fall in production due to drought.

“The price of tur dal had reached up to Rs 10,500 per quintal after a fall in production following drought in 2014. After the import of a large quantity of tur dal, the price reduced to Rs 8,000 per quintal. We had to sell our land to repay loans,” Jadhav says.

Agriculture department joint director Samad Patel says information collected by DCRB is based on FIRs filed by family members of the deceased farmers and a decision on suicide cases would be taken only after proper investigation.