ಉತ್ತರ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ರೈತರ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟ: ಬರ, ಸಾಲ ಮತ್ತು ಬದಲಾಗಬೇಕಾದದ್ದೇನುFarmer distress in North Karnataka: drought, debt and what must change

In the villages of Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Haveri and Bidar, the story of the last two years has been written in failed harvests. Our farmers are not asking for charity. They are asking for the rain to be normal, the price to be fair, and the government in Bengaluru to remember that Karnataka does not end at the Tungabhadra.

The numbers tell the truth

The distress is not a feeling — it is measured. Across roughly 13.65 lakh hectares, kharif crops were damaged in the last monsoon season, and nearly 70% of that loss fell on just seven North Karnataka districts: Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Vijayapura, Gadag, Bagalkot, Bidar and Dharwad (Deccan Herald). Tur (pigeon pea) alone lost about 5.36 lakh hectares, with cotton, green gram and maize close behind. Scientists quoted in that report expect tur yields to fall by at least half.

The cruelty is that this came after drought, not instead of it. In the 2023-24 season, north interior Karnataka was reeling under one of the worst droughts in decades, with the state declaring drought in 223 of 236 taluks (CarbonCopy). First the rain refused to come; then, when it came, it came wrongly — flooding standing crops in September and October. A farmer cannot plan against a sky that behaves like an enemy.

Debt that ends in death

When the crop fails, the loan does not. This is the quiet arithmetic that pushes a farmer to the edge. According to figures from the state Agriculture Department, 2,809 farmers died by suicide between 2023-24 and November 2025 (ETV Bharat). Our region carries a heavy share of that grief: Haveri recorded the most over two and a half years, followed by Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Dharwad. The same reports note that the ₹5 lakh compensation owed to bereaved families is delayed by technical faults in the transfer system — a wound on top of a wound.

We state these figures plainly and only as the department reports them. Behind each one is a family, and they deserve facts, not slogans.

This is older than the weather

Drought is the trigger, but the gun was loaded long ago. The Nanjundappa Committee, set up by the state itself, found in 2002 that North Karnataka held 26 of the state's "most backward" taluks against just 13 in the south, and recommended around ₹31,000 crore of corrective spending over eight years (Down To Earth). Two decades later, much of that plan remains unspent or delayed. Even the special protection of Article 371J for the Kalyana Karnataka districts — Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal and Ballari — has not closed the gap it was written to close.

This is the heart of our stand. The Kittur and Kalyana lands are not the backyard of Karnataka. When irrigation projects stall here, when crop insurance pays late, when compensation files gather dust, that is not bad luck — it is the slow cost of being governed from far away.

What must change

1. Pay first, audit later. Crop-loss compensation and the ₹5 lakh suicide-relief must reach families within weeks, with the transfer system fixed publicly.
2. Insure the real crop. Tur, cotton and millets — not just the south's plantation crops — must be properly covered, with claims settled on satellite and survey data, not paperwork.
3. Finish the irrigation backlog. Spend the Nanjundappa and 371J funds on the projects already promised, and report the spending district by district.
4. A fair price floor. Reliable procurement of pulses and millets at remunerative rates, close to the farmer, so a good harvest is not punished by a collapsed market.

Regional justice is not a complaint. It is a budget line, an irrigation canal, and a compensation cheque that arrives on time. North Karnataka has fed this state through every drought. It is time the state fed its faith back.

*All figures above are drawn from cited news reports and the state Agriculture Department as reported in the press; where a number is an estimate or projection, we have said so. We will correct any figure that official data revises.*