Mysuru: Farmers demand revision of crop loss compensation amount under NDRF

Mysuru: Representatives of State Farmers' Organisations Federation and State Sugarcane Growers' Association demanded a revision of compensation amount for crops under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

They staged a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mysuru, on Friday, and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, through Headquarter Assistant to the DC Shivaprasad and Deputy Director for Agriculture D Raju.

President of the Federation and Association Kuruburu Shanthakumar, who led the protest, stated that the MLAs, MPs, and Ministers increase their salaries regularly. “Government employees also get a salary hike every year. However, the compensation for crop loss to farmers has not been increased even after eight years. All people's representatives shed crocodile tears over the plight of farmers. But, they do nothing for the welfare of farmers,” he said.

Shanthakumar demanded that the NDRF standard for compensation for crop loss due to rain damage, flood damage, and natural calamities should be amended and the compensation amount should be increased. “The present compensation is unscientific. It should be increased to a minimum of Rs 25,000 per acre for rain-fed crop loss; Rs 40,000 per acre for irrigated horticulture crops; and Rs 60,000 per acre for commercial crops,” he said.

He demanded the Central government to provide a special package of Rs 5,000 crore to Karnataka, similar to the one given for Punjab for the crop loss due to rains and flood damage. He urged the Central ministers and MPs, representing Karnataka, to press for these demands.

Shanthakumar said, the State government's Agriculture department has reported to the Central Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices that the cost of cultivating one tonne of sugarcane is Rs 3,700. Thus, the State government has fixed an additional State Advised Price (SAP) for sugarcane. The additional Rs 150 per tonne, which the State government announced two years ago, should be released by the government itself, from the factories, to the farmers,” Shanthakumar said.

“To prevent fraud in sugarcane weighing, the government should establish weighing machines in front of sugar factories. The MNREGA scheme for agricultural use, which has been stalled, should be restarted. The State government should open procurement centres to buy paddy from farmers at a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 2,369 per quintal, along with an incentive bonus of Rs 500 per quintal,” he demanded.

Attahalli Devaraj, Baradanapura Nagaraj, Somashekhar, Varakodu Nagesh, Marballi Neelakanthappa, Lakshmipura Venkatesh, Devanuru Vijayendra, Hampapura Rajesh, Devanuru Mahadevappa, Kuruburu Pradeep, Rangaraja, Katooru Mahadevaswamy, Katooru Nagesh, Ambale Manjunath, Girish, Koorgalli Ravikumar, Nanjundaswamy, Vajamangala Mahadevu, Nagendra P, Puttegowdanahundi Raju, Shivashankar, Varakodu Jayaram, and Kernalli Balu participated in the protest.