Loan waiver temporary solution to agrarian crisis in Karnataka: Nadagouda

MANGALURU: The ₹42,000-crore

farm loan waiver

announced by the H D Kumaraswamy-led government is a temporary solution to agrarian crisis in the state, said Venkatrao

Nadagouda

, minister for animal husbandry and fisheries, here on Tuesday.

The government is instead focussing on permanent scientific solutions, including ensuring that farmers get remunerative price for their agriculture produce as a permanent long-term measure, he added.

Inaugurating the Centre for Applied Research on Problematic Soils (CARPS) on the College of Fisheries premises, Nadagouda said it is ironic that in India every manufacturer has the right to fix price for their product. “The farmer who does not have this luxury has to depend on middlemen to do so for him,” the minister, himself an agriculturist, rued. Agriculture has become a big gamble due to this very reason, perpetuating the crisis, he noted.

The aim of the present government is to prevent farmers from again getting into debt trap and this is a major challenge before it, the minister said, adding the one-time

loan waiver

measure will no doubt provide relief to a certain extent. “We are also working towards ensuring that farmers do not indulge in unplanned agriculture that they are into now,” he said adding confabulations are on at the highest level to achieve this aim.

There is no index from either Union government or state governments concerned to farmers on what to grow. If there is a cropping pattern for each region, the governments, too, can work on ensuring availability of seeds for each crop. Quality supply of power, water and assured rate for the farm produce and agricultural policies not dictated by vote banks, but pragmatism will certainly help tide over the crisis that farmers face on a daily basis, he said.

Noting that there is also no lack of clarity on how to deal with glut of any specific crop, the minister said the fact that most of the crops are not export worthy, too, adds to the farmers’ misery. Even centres of learning that are supposed to provide solutions to farmers do not indulge in need-based research, Nadagouda said exhorting institutions under KVAFSU including the college of fisheries to transfer technology to lands of farmers.

MLA D Vedavyas Kamath who presided over the function exhorted the minister to popularize soil health cards implemented by the Centre. This will help farmers tide over problems caused by soil condition, he said, while exhorting the minister to pay due attention to various issues that

fishermen

in the state face. The minister also inaugurated the golden jubilee celebration year of the College of Fisheries on this occasion.