Kundapur: Farmers in Vakwady Area Distressed over Poor Rice Crop - Blame State Apathy

News & Pics: Ganesh Beejady
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (RD/SB)

Kundapur, Nov 5: The farmers who sourced the rice seeds and painstakingly cultivated their paddy fields are a disgruntled lot as the time to harvest is near, the crop has grown lush, but has no worthy grains in it.

The farmers who cultivated the paddy current year with the seeds sourced from state authorities are distressed over the low quantum of yield.  Due to this grave situation, the hundreds of acres of paddy
fields in Vakwady village are ready for harvesting without any significant paddy-sheaves that are fit for animal feed. The farmers who are affected by this misery are worried and blame the state authorities for supplying sub-standard rice seeds.

Backdrop of the Case

The agriculturists had sourced MO 4 variety of rice seeds from agriculture department, here, which was supplied by Karnataka State Seeds Corporation, Hebbal, Bangalore and sowed in their farmlands. The
farmers planted the saplings from the seeds in their paddy fields at the onset of monsoon. The paddy crop has been ready for harvesting in the first week of November. However, to the farmer’s misery, the paddy
crop that has grown lush has a little quantity of grains while most of the paddy-sheaves are a waste as the grain are not grown properly. The farmers are distressed over this situation as it drained their
livelihood and wasted their hard labour.

‘The poor quality of paddy crop has been due to substandard seeds. alleges agriculturist Prabhakar Shetty. We have bought MO 4 variety of rice seeds from local agricultural department’s stores, which was
proved to give higher yields than other varieties.  However, its harvest this year is disastrous. It seems the seeds were mixed up with the other varieties of rice seeds. We have been swindled of our livelihood because of the apathy of state authorities, added Shetty.

Peasants Urge State Administration to Investigate

The peasant community has urged the senior officers of related department to visit the paddy fields and undertake elaborate study on the issue, as to why the paddy crop has turned so futile. The hundreds of agriculturists of Vakwady village say that they will not tolerate if their livelihood goes down the drain. The peasant community also cautioned that they would intensify the struggle against the injustice to their sustenance.  he fate of peasants in Gopady, Beejady and neighbouring villages is also the same as that of their counterparts in Vakwady, who have also expressed their anguish over the issue.