Vellore

Farmers in Ranipet district are sore that what the Union budget promised farmers two years ago was yet to become reality while advocacy of some farm practices were contrary to each other, sources said.

Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam state youth wing president R Subash said “Prime Minister Narendra Modi said two years ago that farmers’ income would double in 2022. However, the ground reality is the opposite. Not only have the cost of agricultural inputs spiraled, there has also been no response from officialdom to our various pleas for action to control this menace which is slowly killing agriculture.”

“Contrary to what Modi said farmers have gone deeper into debt due to high input costs,” Sangam state secretary S Udayakumar added.

Sangam Ranipet district president CS Mani said, “the government on one hand calls on farmers to promote organic farming and on the other hand promotes the use of chemical pesticides as was seen in the recent budget announcement that drones would be used to spray pesticide and chemicals for standing crops.”

‘Drones not much of use’

Elaborating on this, Subash said, “Using drones for spraying pesticide is not new. However, this technology is fit only for large land tracts. With most farmers in TN coming under the small and marginal category its of no use.”

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