Coimbatore:
Nearly 8.67 lakh farmers have quit agriculture and shifted to other sectors during the last 10 years in Tamil Nadu as per the 2011 census, a farmer's body leader said today.
Federation of Tamil Nadu Agricultural Associations Secreatary S Nallasami said that the Census suggested that from 2001 to 2011, 8,67,582 farmers have stopped agriculture due to various reasons, including huge loss.
Moreover, there was an increase in the number of agricultural labourers during the period, as the farmers sell their land to real estate and prefer to work on daily wage, he said in a release in Coimbatore.
He attributed the reason for the plight of the farmers to wrong import policy of the Centre, un-remunerative prices for farmers' produce, industrialistion and urbanisation, coupled with the failure to divert the rain and other waters going to sea to the farmers' fields, by linking rivers.
On fixing prices for the produce, like sugarcane, Nallasami said while the Government was implementing the recommendations of the Pay commission immediately, it was not bothered about the suggestions of the Commission for Agriculture Cost and Price, leaving the farmers in the lurch and at the mercy of the middlemen.