The consecutive droughts, with intermittent floods, have shown the impact that climate change can have on the lives of farmers.
BENGALURU: Farmers in the state are preparing for one more round of showdown with the state government, even as Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy made a beginning to deliver on his promise of farm loan waiver by launching the distribution of ‘Debt-free certificates.’ Though the programme has raised hopes of some relief for them from the debt burden, the continuing incidence of farmers’ suicides, which has crossed 220 since the programme was announced, reflects a bigger crisis that has gripped the farm sector in the state.
Karnataka has the largest tracts of arid drylands after Rajasthan in the country. Successive droughts over the last six years, except for some respite in between, have left the farmers here run up huge debts. The volatile market system has added to their misery. The current year too has brought tears for the tillers as 100 taluks are under the grip of drought again. Incessant rain, floods and landslides have devastated not just crops, but even their homes and land in 45 taluks.
While the state had targeted 74.69 lakh hectares for sowing in the Kharif season for 2018, actual sowing was done in 66.69 lakh hectares and sprouting was reported in just 27.36 lakh hectares, which is 41 per cent of the sown area. The successive crop losses have pushed farmers under heavy debt burden and the delay in implementing loan waiver is turning them restive.
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