Farmers to lay siege to Palakkad town

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD, SEPT. 12. The National Farmers Protection Committee is to lay siege to Palakkad town on Friday in protest against the State Government's failure to announce the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy and procure it during the current harvest season.

Addressing a press conference at the Media Centre here today, the committee president, Mr. R. Vasudevan, the secretary, Mr. Pandiyode Prabhakaran, and the chief adviser, Mr. K. Ravikumar, said the farmers have now decided to organise `do or die' struggles instead of running away from reality and committing suicide.

Successive governments have neglected the interests of paddy farmers in the district. They said the price of paddy per cart has crashed from Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 2,600 during the current harvest season, resulting in a loss of Rs. 60 crores to 30,000 paddy farmers of Palakkad district who cultivate in 1.25 lakh hectares.

In the price crash each farmer is losing Rs. 20,000 from his investment for cultivation. The mill owners based in Kalady are controlling the paddy prices and they have slashed the price in the absence of Government intervention in fixing the minimum support price and making arrangement for procurement by Government agencies. When paddy cultivation is not remunerative such huge loss of investment will ruin the farmers, they said. The farmers demanded a minimum support price of Rs. 8 per kg of paddy which should be procured through cooperative societies. They said the farmers have not been given production bonus for the last two and a half years. While the Government has cleared dues of other segments of society it has neglected the interests of farmers. This has affected them very badly.

The committee leaders demanded that the Government declare a moratorium on the debts of farmers as they are not able to pay back loans because of the crash in prices. If the Government had fixed minimum support price during August and September, the harvest season, the prices should not have crashed like this.

They said the shortage of water in Malampuzha dam has created problems for the second crop cultivation.

The farmers' leaders said the crash in prices of paddy has affected the economy of the district and the traders are feeling the pinch. This has forced them to support the struggle of farmers. They said that a section of the media is neglecting the problems of paddy farmers which would otherwise have caught the attention of the Government and other authorities.

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Section  : Southern States
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