Karnataka - Bangalore   

Officials told to reach out to farmers

Special Correspondent

Chief Minister finds fault with implementation of farm schemes

ON FARMERS' DAY: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy greeting Krishi Pandit award-winners in Bangalore on Saturday. Also seen (from left) are Minister for Agriculture Bandeppa Kashempur and Minister for Science and Technology Ramachandra Gowda. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The agricultural sector is passing through a difficult phase in the State and farmers have been adversely affected by a sharp drop in prices of several crops and flawed implementation of schemes by officials, according to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

He appealed to the officials to hold meetings with farmers to formulate a strategy for implementing the new agricultural policy, which was announced last week.

The Chief Minister said farm policies and subsidy schemes had remained on paper on account of the officials' lack of practical knowledge about agriculture and errors in implementation.

Mr. Kumaraswamy was speaking after the presentation of Krishi Pandit and Krishi awards for 2006 to seven farmers each here on Saturday, which is being observed as Farmers' Day.

He said the Government had introduced a new agricultural policy this year, the second in 11 years, to speed up growth and prevent suicide by farmers. Now it was the duty of the officials to formulate plans for its effective implementation. Previous governments had announced many schemes but paid little attention to their execution. He asked the officials to discuss farmers' problems with those who had won the Krishi Pandit awards to come up with a strategy to increase farm output.

Suicide by farmers

As many as 174 farmers had committed suicide in the State this year, he said. The Government proposed to amend the moneylenders Act to ban private parties from lending money.

Under the `Suvarna Krishi Honda' scheme, only 6,000 farm ponds had been dug against the target of 50,000. With just three months left in the financial year, how was it possible to reach the target, the Chief Minister asked and pointed out that Rs. 50 crore had been earmarked in the budget for the scheme.

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