Opposition walks out of Assembly, accuses government of failing to mitigate agriculture crisis

UDF opposition walk out of KLA, accusing govt of pushing rubber, paddy farmers into debt trap. Actor Jayasurya criticised govt for not paying farmers in Palakkad & Kuttanad. Banks refusing to honour paddy receipt sheets, deluging farmers with debt recovery notices. UDF silent on Centre's wrong policies, import duty cut on rubber compound. Govt compensated paddy farmers, but Speaker denied UDF motion.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition walked out of the Kerala Legislative Assembly (KLA), accusing the government of pushing rubber and paddy farmers into a debt trap and remaining apathetic to the existential crisis in the State’s traditional agriculture sector.

Seeking the leave of the House to introduce an adjournment motion to debate the subject, Congress legislator Sunny Joseph said the High Court had set August 24 as the deadline for the government to compensate paddy farmers.

“Such was their need in the face of government’s apathy that farmers had to seek judicial intervention to get compensated,” he said.

Mr. Joseph said actor Jayasurya was right to criticise the government for not paying for the paddy procured from farmers in Palakkad and Kuttanad.

Mr. Joseph noted that pro-government troll farms hounded Mr. Jayasurya for speaking the truth. “The cash crop sector in Kerala had crashed. The low price of rubber impoverished small-scale farmers. Rubber and spice cultivation was no longer an economically viable option in Kerala,” he said.

Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan said banks refused to honour paddy receipt sheets submitted by farmers for payment because the government refused to honour their debt. The treasury was cash-strapped and the Kerala State Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission merely remained on paper, he alleged.

The banks, he claimed, also deluged the impoverished farmers with debt recovery notices for defaulting mortgage payments on agriculture loans.