Lockdown loss: 75 farmers ended life in 60 days in Karnataka

BENGALURU: Notwithstanding a decent yield, more than one farmer, on an average, committed suicide every day during the lockdown months of April and May in Karnataka, with at least 75 cases reported in 61 days.
TOI has reported multiple instances of farmers throwing away or burying their yield as they could not sell them due to restrictions on movement and lack of demand.Farmer leaders say the distress is disheartening and should send a message to the government.

The chief minister’s Covid-19 relief package of over Rs 1,600 crore announced on May 6, did not cover farmers, barring flower growers who are to get one-time compensation of Rs 25,000 per hectare. On May 16, the government announced a package for Asha workers and only maize growers, who were to get Rs 5,000 each as a one-time benefit. Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leader KS Sudheer Kumar said the yield was better this year, compared to last two years, but farmers could not get the right price.
“Silk farmers are selling their yield at 50% of the price. The support price for tur dal came after the season and farmers had sold it for a lower price; it was similar with paddy growers,” farmer leader Maruti Manpade said.
Under-reporting of cases
Sudheer feels there has been under-reporting of suicides in the wake of the pandemic.
Data show 800 farmers committed suicide at a rate of more than two per day between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020, indicating the farm distress was in line with previous years.
In five years between April 2015 and May 2020, Karnataka lost nearly 5,000 farmers, with the maximum number of cases (1,062) reported in 2015-16.
Of 800 cases in 2019-20, 453 were reported between April 1 and November 30, 2019, while another 347 were recorded in just four months — between December 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020. Of 875 cases in 14 months, Belagavi reported 79 deaths, followed by Dharwad (70) and Mysuru
(69). Northern districts were the worst hit last year, compared to its preceding two years when districts in the Cauvery belt bore the brunt.
The six districts in Mumbai-Karnataka region — Belagavi (79); Vijayapura (47); Bagalkot (31); Haveri (57); Dharwad (70) and Gadag (26) — accounted for 310 or 35% of 875 suicides. The Kalyana Karnataka region accounted for another 23% or 199 with Bidar reporting 48 suicides and the rest coming from the remaining districts of Ballari, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Koppal and Yadgir. Five districts in the Cauvery belt saw 146 cases — 69 in Mysuru and the rest divided between Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajanagar and Ramanagara.