The threat of losing mortgaged homes and agricultural land, the perennially low prices of cash crops, and their falling demand have cast a shadow on the lives of thousands of debt-ridden farmers in Wayanad, a major producer of coffee and spices in the country.
C.J. Sebastian, 58, of Cheriyampanattu, a far-mer at Padichira, nearPulpally,in Wayanad took a farm loan of ₹10 lakh by mortgaging one acre of his six-acre land from the Sulthan Bathery Co-Operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank Ltd (SBCARDB ) in 2012 for replanting pepper and coffee. But the pepper vines were destroyed by the quick wilt disease and drought in 2015.
