Minister: Study needed to figure out why cane farmers are committing suicide

BENGALURU: Farmers across Karnataka have been grappling with consecutive drought years and mounting debts , but if suicides are any indication, sugarcane growers seem to be the worst hit.In the past three years, just four major sugarcane growing districts have accounted for a quarter of all farmer suicides in Karnataka.From April 2016 to August 2018, 2,480 farmer suicides have been reported from Karnataka, while Belagavi, Bagalkot, Mandya and Haveri accounted for 589 or 24% of the deaths. If you add another cane growing district – Vijayapura – it goes up to 656 or 26%. Sugarcane is grown in Hassan and Kolar as well.In the latest, a sugarcane grower in Mandya killed himself on Friday, blaming CM HD Kumaraswamy in his suicide note. The government, which has been negotiating with cane growers and mill owners – mostly politicians – however, is unable to put its finger on the reasons for suicides in the four districts.Agriculture minister Shivashankar Reddy said: “Unlike farmers in other regions of the state, those growing sugarcane are better poised, with more water and good land. We are not sure why they are taking their lives.”It will need a thorough study. But we are committed to resolving their issues and urge them not to lose hope,” the minister said.There was a time when sugarcane was considered a safe crop — with consistent inflow of money and good yields every year. But massive protests by cane growers in the state show that is no longer the case.Government statistics show the average cane yield in the state fell from 101 tonnes/hectare in 2009-10 to 73 tonnes /hectare in 2016-17. Sugarcane farmers say that increased stress from consecutive droughts, lower payments by sugar mills and increasing inflation are among the reasons for rising debt, which is in turn triggering suicides.President of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha Chamarasa Mali Patil, however, attributes much of the problem to the sugar industry’s treatment of farmers. He alleged that sugar mill owners delay payments, and blackmail farmers who demand payment by refusing to buy their crops. Mandya district president of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha K S Sudheer Kumar said the government must not just intervene to provide temporary solutions, but implement long-term policies.Former minister S R Patil, who owns sugar mills, claimed that farmers are paid promptly.“I was a farmer first,” he said. “If cane growers have a standard of living much higher than the rest, it is because mills make prompt payments. As of today, there is not a single rupee of the FRP pending. What farmers claim is pending is actually but additional money that they are demanding.”