Govt's bungling pushed Sugarcane farmers into a crisis: Leader

Bangalore, Apr 9(UNI) Lopsided policies of the Union and different state governments had led to a crisis in the sugarcane farming, Mr K Prabhakar Reddy, Convenor of National Sugarcane Farmers Union said here today.

Speaking to reporters he said hitherto the sugarcane farmers were economically most stable among the farming class, but only in the recent years they faced crisis and this was due to the 'fuss' created by the elected governments.

The incidents of sugarcane farmer committing suicide due to debts was unheard of before, but the country was witnessing hundreds of farmers committing chose to end their lives now. The elected representatives should be held responsible for their state of despair, he alleged.

"Last year the Union government banned export of sugar when the world market was most conducive for exports. This year it was lifted when the price is not remunerative. Similarly the state governments had also failed to draft farmer-friendly policies," he said.

Mr Reddy said that the country which had achieved food surplus through green revolution was back to square one now. The present status of the Indian agriculture was comparable only to the state when it was before the independence. Politicians were solely responsible for this, he said.

He said the Union demands that a separate budget be drafted both at the Centre and the State level for the farm sector on the lines of Railway budget.

He called upon the farmers of Karnataka to demand the politicians to come out with separate manifesto for farmers and reject those who failed to chart farmer friendly policies.

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