Bangalore: The Karnataka Agricultural Policy (2006) had failed to address the causes of the agrarian crisis and was no more than a "veiled attempt" to further the liberalisation policy of the Government, leaders of farmers said at a round-table conference here on Thursday.

Farmers' groups, led by the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) and the State unit of the All-India Agricultural Workers' Union (AIAWU), resolved to burn copies of the policy in all parts of the State on January 11 as the first step of their campaign against the policy.

Delivering the keynote address at the conference, AIAWU State unit president Nityananda Swamy said the policy "merely mentions" alarming issues such as decline in food production, farmers' suicide and massive migration of agricultural labourers to urban centres. It did not link these trends to World Bank-driven policies of corporatisation of agriculture, reversal of the Land Reforms Act and lack of adequate credit support for marginal farmers.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy was "feeding people with many illusions" through populist programmes such as village stays, while supporting only multinational companies in policy matters, Mr. Swamy charged.

Though the State Government claimed that it had consulted agriculture expert M.S. Swaminathan before framing the policy, the contents of the report did not support this claim, said Mr. Swamy.

Citing an example, he said while Dr. Swaminathan, in his recommendations on agriculture made to the Centre, said that a serious analysis of the reasons behind the spate of suicides had to be made and remedial measures chalked out, the State policy gave no hint of taking up any study, he said. It was "no coincidence" that farmers' suicide began with the liberalisation policies of the Government, he said.

KPRS State president Maruti Manpade said the policy, instead of laying emphasis on food security issues, spoke about augmenting export.

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) president Kodihalli Chandrashekar said the draft of the policy had not even been discussed with farmers' leaders with any seriousness before passing it. Speaking about special economic zones, M.C. Venkataram of KRRS said this implied a "return to the days of zamindars" in a new guise. Senior farmers' leader Marilinge Gowda said the Government was not supporting alternative practices such as natural farming only to protect the interests of multinational seed and manure companies.

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