Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has demanded a special package for farmers in the state, in the wake of several financial distress faced by them, owing to the pandemic.
Gowda, who wrote a letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in this regard, pointed out that farmers were, on the one hand, unable to send their produce outside the state and on the other, had lost the local market as well.
Horticulture and floriculture farmers who had invested lakhs of rupees into cultivating crops were staring at loans and losses, he said.
“Desperate to sell their produce, in some places, they are selling it at low rate where in, they are unable to gain back their investment,” he wrote in his letter.
Considering that the farmers are staring at a bleak future, the government should announce a special package for them, even if it comes at the cost of scrapping certain projects announced in the budget, Gowda added.
Cong leaders buy veggies
Former Congress minister Krishna Byre Gowda said that the price farmers get for their produce has increased by 20-30% after the party's leaders started buying vegetables from them directly.
Gowda alone has bought 230 tonnes of vegetables from farmers and distributued them among the needy. "Many leaders have also started this initiative and thousands of tonnes are being purchased. Crops that were being thrown are now finding buyers and there's been a 20-30% increase in the prices farmers are getting," Gowda said.