NCP has the edge in Kolhapur

MANDATE 2004

Vishwambhar Patil is a sugarcane farmer from Gadinglaj village, 70-odd kilometres from Kolhapur city, who does not want to risk it again this year "" what with the 'lokri mawa' disease having wiped out more than 50 per cent of sugarcane two years in a row.

"This year I am going in for soyabean cultivation instead," he says. Patil's son Audumbur is only 25 years old and a medical representative.

Audumbur and his elder brother have not taken to the family tradition of cultivation, preferring instead to pursue a career in the pharmaceuticals industry. "In the last two years my father suffered heavy losses on sugarcane cultivation on his four acres of land. The 'lokri mawa' disease destroyed his crop. On a single acre of cane cultivation, which is water intensive, the loss worked out to Rs 15,000. This year, compounding the prevalence of the disease is the unavailability of adequate water which has compelled him to change to soyabean as a cash crop. Even if that fails, at least his loss will be less," says Audumbur.

The Patils are not the only ones changing their crop preference, other villagers in Gadinglaj are doing so too. Nearby villages such as Ultur, Mahagaon and Netri, en route to Kolhapur city, have also witnessed the devastation of the 'lokri mawa' disease. The disease is not easy to detect and it dries out the standing sugarcane crop, transforming it from a cash crop to a dead loss for the cultivator.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar petitioned the Union government last year, when the disease spread all over the sugarcane belts of Maharashtra, seeking assistance from experts to tackle it.

Data from the Kolhapur belt show that in the last sugarcane season 11,000 hectares that traditionally were reserved for sugarcane cultivation have been diverted to other cash crops.

This year is going to be worse with more and more farmers deciding to give the sweetening crop of Maharashtra the go by. With reduced sugar production due to the reduction in cane crushed at factories in the Kolhapur belt, the future looks bleak for the already fiscally-stressed cooperative segment in Maharashtra.

Ironically, the Maharashtra cabinet of ministers recently cleared a loan package for the forthcoming crushing season for sugar factories. The Union government also sanctioned the proposal before it was cleared by the state.

With a mere 40-50 per cent cane availability, it does not take much to fathom the political compulsions that may have inspired the Union and state governments' move.

However, in the current Lok Sabha elections Kolhapur's farming community is already decided on who will win. The Kolhapur and Ichalkaranji seats will be won by the NCP hands down, says Patil.

Whom does the farmers blame for the unavailability of water that was partly responsible for their failed sugarcane crop? "Nature is beyond the control of man. Anyway, in the Lok Sabha elections local issues do not come into play much.

Wait for the Assembly elections that will be held later this year. That is when we will question our political leaders on their efforts to solve the problems faced by agriculturists," says Pandurang Gadgerao Mukote, another farmer from this sugarcane belt.