Fertiliser crisis, stray cattle major poll issues for farmers in Bundelkhand

Chhatarpur, Sagar: Thirty-five-year old farmer Chali Yadav from Pulkator village comes daily to Shahgarh fertiliser warehouse with a hope that he will get the slip for fertilisers. "It has been six days and I haven't got it yet. Sometimes they tell us to buy the fertilisers from market where it is sold at ₹150 extra per bag. If I buy 100 bags, then I need ₹15,000 extra," he tells ET. "You can see my red eyes. I don't sleep as I keep a watch over the stray cattle in my fields at night and come here for fertilisers in the day."

In one story, Yadav defines the problems faced by farmers in Bundelkhand region. Like UP, growing stray cattle is making farmers struggle to protect their crop. On the other hand, getting fertilisers from government-owned shops is another huge challenge. And all this is likely to impact their voting preferences in the upcoming elections.

Everyday thousands of farmers gather at Shahgarh fertiliser warehouse in Banda assembly to get the slip which ensures that you will get fertilisers. Raj Kumar from Dudyakheda village says that the stray cattle problem has grown in the last two or three years. "We have done fencing with wires but even that is not useful. We stay guard during the night," he adds. Kumar says that earlier he used to sell agri produce of ₹3-4 lakh every year during the rainy season. "Now all depends on how much we are able to save from the stray cattle.


"Definitely this is going to be a factor when we vote," adds Raj Kumar in Shahgarh" Dharmendra Thakur, another farmer from Markheda Jagi village, says that he struggled to protect his maize crop in his 25 acres of land.

During the last elections, Congress had ensured to construct Gaushala in every village for the stray cattle. The BJP, too, has promised the same. On the ground, the progress is hard to see.