Areca growers migrate from villages in Koppa
The poor financial condition due to the loss in areca plantations has forced the farmers to seek shelter outside their plantations.
Out of 50 families in Hulugaradi village of Koppa taluk, as many as 10 families have already migrated to other places. The remaining families are also planning to leave the village.
Naibi, Somanakudige, Bantwane and Kolegoodu villages are worst affected by the yellow leaf disease. The yellow leaf diseases has ruined the arecanut farms.
Areca farms of Subba Bhat, Thammanna Bhat, Subrahmanya, Shringeshwara, Ramachandra and Vishweshwara are in neglected condition as the owners have already deserted the farms and migrated to the cities.
H M Girish who owns a huge house and two acre of areca farm in the village has decided to vacate the village at the earliest. He said “We were reaping 20 quintals of arecanut in the past. However, now we are able to get only 2 kg areca owing to the disease affecting the areca plants.”
Girish says “even if I pluck arecanut, the labour cost will be much higher than the amount of money I will get by selling the plucked arecanut. Moreover, coffee and cardamom grown in the land have been damaged by the monkeys. At this juncture of time, I would prefer to lead my life in some other place rather than continuing to lead a miserable life here,” he added.
Though the government surveyed disease prone farms in the region, it has not taken any measures to rehabilitate the affected farmers. Despite the Central government's Agricultural department Officer Gorak Singh submitting 12 points recommendation to the government in favour of the farmers, the Finance Department has not implemented any of the recommendations till date.
Moreover, there is no one to buy the disease affected farms in Koppa. The daily wage labourers who were working in areca farms are out of job.