More than 300 farmers from Surendranagar,Amreli and Ahmedabad districts on Saturday gathered at the Lal Darwaza to draw the attention of the state government towards their plight as a result of the inadequate rains this monsoon. They put forth a demand for compensation at the rate of Rs 30,000 per acre. Several of them said they had totally lost their kharif crops,mostly paddy,due to the inadequate rains,adding that they do not have any savings to fall back upon as they have been hit by poor monsoons for the last three years. Phulpuri Devpuri Gosai,a farmer from Mankol village of Sanand taluka of Ahmedabad district said his entire paddy crop on four acres of agriculture land had dried up as it had rained for only two days during the entire monsoon this year. He said the Fatehpura branch canal passed by his village,but they were not allowed to draw water from the canal. I dont have enough money to install a borewell either to draw underground water for irrigation, he added. Bapabhai Gandabhai Sonara,a farmer from Nanodara village in Bavla taluka of Surendranagar district said his paddy crop on two acres of land perished due to insufficient rains. He said there was neither a canal irrigation system in his village nor borewell was effective because of the depleting groundwater table. Deepabhai Jivabhai Patel,a rich farmer from Mankod village of Sanand taluka said he lost 50 per cent of his paddy crop on his 100 acre land. He said he was able to save the remaining 50 per cent as he had tubewells in some of his fields for irrigation. He said it was difficult to run tubewells round the clock because of the eight hours power supply policy for agricultural use. Keshabhai Motibhai Sonara from Nanodara village said they had approached the taluka level officials for a survey of their paddy fields with a view to seek compensation,but there was no response. Most of the farmers are in a very bad situation financially and need immediate help,but nobody has paid attention towards our woes, said Kantibhai Jethabhai Sonara,a farmer. The farmers also had a list of 12 farmers from various district in the state who had allegedly committed suicide due to financial hardship arising out of crop failure between 2004 and 2007. They said the police had logged these incidents.
