The Federation of Farmers Association and Sugarcane Cultivators Association have demanded a waiver on repayment of agricultural loan availed by the farmers.
Kurubur Shanthakumar, president of the sugarcane cultivators association said here on Saturday, December 2, that the farmers were in distress either due to flood or drought for the last three years and were suffering crop loss and financial distress. While the government waives off industrial loans by classifying them as Non-Performing Asset or NPA, the farmers are pressurised to repay in full, said Mr. Shanthakumar.
He said the issue will also be raised at the World Farmers Day to be celebrated in Bengaluru on December 23. There will be a mega convention of farmers from across the country and both the Centre and the State Governments would be issued an ultimatum to meet the farmers demand for higher procurement price etc.
Mr. Shanthakumar said minimum support price should be notified for all agricultural produce and not restricted to a handful of them and it should be legally enforceable. Besides, the minimum support price should be as per the formula provided by Swaminathan Committee report, he added.
Taking potshots at the government for releasing ₹2000 as drought relief, Mr. Shanthakumar described it as crumbs and said that the farmers were not beggars. Instead, the government should reimburse the actual loss suffered by the farmers and announce ₹25,000 per acre, said Mr. Shanthakumar.
The farmers also wanted commercial crops like sugarcane to be included under notified crops under which crop damage and loss can be claimed from NDRF. The other demands included pension for all farmers, uninterrupted power supply for at least 10 hours, extension of subsidy on solar pump sets, withdrawal of cases registered against farmers who took part in the agitation in Delhi last year, etc. Attahalli Devaraj, Baradanpura Nagaraj, Kurubur Siddesh and other local farmer leaders were present.
