Local farmers line up to sell agri land to Kerala farmers

 Farmers from Kerala have taken over about 50 acres of fertile paddy lands on lease and have been cultivating ginger on these lands at Mandaravalli village of Lakkavalli hobli here.

These farmers from Kerala have taken land on lease by paying over Rs 25,000 per year to the land owners and have deployed farm workers paying double the wage for ginger cultivation.
The local farmers who are fully aware of the fact that ginger cultivation on paddy lands turns the land infertile and no crops can be cultivated on this land for the next 5 to 6 years, carried away by the huge sum of money which they are receiving at once, the local farmers are lining up to sell their lands to these farmers from Kerala on lease. The local farmers are ruining their own lands for their own benefit, unable to understand the long standing affect of their present action, it is said.
The environment is also being affected due to ginger cultivation as large quantity of fertilisers, chemicals and pesticides are being used in the lands.
Since the farmers from Kerala are providing double wages to farm workers, rest of the local farmers are not able to find adequate number of farm workers.
Even when some workers agree to work in the fields, they demand same wage as paid by the Kerala farmers.
All together the new trends set by Kerala farmers has caused worry among the local farming community.