Kerala - Kozhikode   

Move to marginalise farmers alleged

Staff Reporter

Farmers' suicides result of insidious policies of the State

KOZHIKODE: There was un-stated consensus among all political parties for removing farmers from the national scene and clearing the way for corporate agriculture in the name of development, according to Kisani Prathishta Manch convener B.D.Sharma.

Mr. Sharma was speaking at an interaction programme organised by People's Movement at Kalpetta in Wayanad district on the topic of `Farmers falling into debt trap and the crises on Saturday.

Farmers' suicides were the result of insidious policies of the State that have rendered agriculture non-viable, he said. There is a huge expropriation through the device of depressed entitlements for work in agriculture, which has been classified as `unskilled' even though it is the most dexterous skilled work in the world. The entitlement is further depressed by taking two working units in the family as against the general norm of one working unit in the organised sector. This device have resulted in very low prices of agricultural products as declared by Agricultural Prices Commission, while other rise in prices go unchecked, Mr.Sharma observed.

Mr. Sharma pointed out that this policy was leading to farmers falling into the debt, where again the State was playing a dubious role.

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