KALABURAGI/YADGIR: Farmers growing tur dal in the Hyderabad-Karnataka (HK) region are staring at grim days. Massive loss is looming large as harvesting commenced recently.
The 180-day crop, sown in June, is a major failure this year, because of severe drought in the area.
According to estimates, tur grown on one acre of land could only fetch 1 quintal of dal this year. This is much lower than last year, when, according to the agriculture department in Kalaburagi, the average yield per acre was 4 quintals. With loan waiver failing to reach them, the farmers say they are witnessing one of the worst times this season.
Ningappa Poojary, a farmer from Aurad village in Kalaburagi district, the tur bowl of Karnataka, owns 4 acres of land and has taken 16 acres on lease. He rued, “I have invested over Rs 2 lakh for growing tur in my 20-acre land this season. For the land that I have taken on lease, I have to pay Rs 1 lakh each year.” In order to meet his expenses, Ningappa took a loan of Rs 1 lakh from a local money lender, besides the previous loans of Rs 1 lakh each from nationalised and cooperative banks. He is hoping that the money borrowed from the banks would be waived soon so that he can apply for another loan to repay the money borrowed from the money lender.
The tur grown by him, Ningappa said, required expenditure on three rounds of pesticides, 15 quintals of chemical fertilizers, and eight tractor-loads of organic manure, besides seed procurement and labour cost for harvesting. “All these cost Rs 2 lakh,” he said, adding that after harvesting 2 acres, he is now expecting yield of only 2 quintals.
“This is a huge loss. Last year, 2 acres fetched 7 quintals of yield. My family of six is shattered and worried about how to repay the loan and earn money for household expenses,” he said.
Kalyani, a farmer from Bannur village, said the current price in the market is Rs 4,800 per quintal. He has spent over Rs 1 lakh on growing the dal on 10 acres. “Only 1 quintal yield is expected for 1 acre. Hence, for 10 acres, the maximum I can earn is Rs 50,000, which is not even half of what I spent,” he sighed.
Appanna, a farmer from Yadgir district, borrowed Rs 1 lakh from the cooperative society for growing tur in 5 acres.
He too is looking at bleak prospects. “I was growing cotton. However, seeing previous year’s earning for tur growers, I decided to grow the dal this year. But I suffered due to drought, as my farm in rain-fed due to absence of any canal water. Tur has dried up in over three acres, where no yield is expected. I am heading towards massive loss,” he moaned.
Farmer leader Maruti Manpade told The New Indian Express that farmer’s lives are in distress due to drought. According to data from the agriculture department, 9.97 lakh hectares in the state is covered by tur, and most of it -- 9.52 lakh hectares -- is rainfed. Tur is grown in Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Bidar, Bagalkot, and Vijayapura, and parts of Raichur, Koppal, Chitradurga, Kolar, Chikballapur and Tumkur.
Manpade, quoting data from the agriculture department, said that 6.62 lakh hectares of crop loss has been calculated, signifying a massive crisis for farmers. “The government has set only Rs 6,800/hectare drought compensation, which is not sufficient at all. The government has to provide compensation of Rs 25,000 to end the crisis,” he said.
For tur, the central government calculation is Rs 3,318 (actual cost + farm labour +50%) for deciding MSP. “However, we are demanding comprehensive cost + 50 per cent which includes the cost of seed, land and crop management, piling up cost, and other expenses. It comes to Rs 4,991+50 per cent, which amounts to Rs 7,500 as MSP,” he added.