On Day 44 of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi met with farmer groups from Raichur and other parts of North Karnataka. Raichur district is a Doab between 2 major rivers, Krishna and Tungabhadra, with about 12 Lakh Hectares of irrigated land.

Present at the interaction were Rahul Gandhi, Randeep Surjewala, Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, MB Patil and Yogendra Yadav. All present paid tributes to Late Sardar Paramjeet Singh, one of the key-organisers of the Farmers Protest against the 3 Farm Laws at Singhu Border, and who passed away today in Karnal, Haryana. Singh was a Yatri in the Bharat Jodo Yatra for two weeks in Kerala and Karnataka, as a member of the Civil Society Team.

Chamraj Malipatil, a farmer leader, demanded that a law be brought to ban the sale of agricultural products below the MSP set by government. He said that although the government announces an MSP, it neither procures adequate quantity nor purchases in time, forcing the farmers to sell outside APMCs or in the Free Market at prices lower than their input costs and much below MSP. He also added that the Swaminathan Report should be taken into account before deciding the MSP of crops.

Malipatil stated that the Tungabhadra Dam is now covered with silt upto 33% of its capacity. He suggested that the government should explore an opportunity to de-silt the dam by joining hands with farmers who can then use it as manure for their farmlands.

Prabhakar Patil, a farmer leader, said that it was getting increasingly difficult to practice agriculture these days as a result of rising input costs. Unpredictable weather conditions, including unseasonal rains are also affecting yields. Answering a query by Rahul Gandhi on efficacy of insurance cover in the case of crop failure, the farmers present responded that private sector insurance companies were colluding with government officials to drastically reduce or delay payouts.

Responding to their demands, Rahul Gandhi said that he has met a number of farmers during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the four states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and understands the seriousness of their problems. He added that when he asked them what was their net profit in the past 10 years, the fact was that they hadn’t made any real profit. In fact they were barely breaking even on the money they had invested. He added that without proper support, it was not possible for farmers to profit from agriculture.