‘Organic farming is the only hope'

Special Correspondent | Thursday, Jul 15, 2010 | The Hindu

SHIMOGA: State Bharatiya Janata Party Raitha Morcha vice-president Shambhulinga Hegde regretted that children of farmers who should have derived pride and pleasure in being engaged in cultivation had chosen to be industrial workers.

He was inaugurating a meeting of the district BJP Raitha Morcha here on Wednesday.

He remembered the good times when farmers were self-sufficient and arranged the sowing of seeds and organic manure themselves. But with the passage of time, the situation changed and farmers started depending on the government as well as companies.

Mr. Hegde pointed out that situation might turn serious if the supply of seeds and fertilizer was not made on time. “Organic cultivation appeared to be the only solution to this predicament,” he said and asked farmers to derive maximum benefit from the schemes being formulated by the government to popularise organic farming.

District president of BJP Raitha Morcha Bhukanth, who presided over the function, said that it was the complete dependence of farmers on chemical fertilizer that had led to the present crisis. He said that farmers could come out of it if they switched over to organic farming.

District Raitha Morcha general secretary Nagaraj, district BJP general secretary S. Dattatri, members of the Morcha Ashok Nayak, Gangadhar and Suresh were present.