‘Food Security Bill should address the problems of farmers' The kole farmers of the district on Wednesday took out a protest march to the District Collectorate pressing their demands including rollback of fertiliser prices and increase in support price for paddy. Under the banner of the Thrissur Jilla Kole Karshaka Sangam, hundreds of farmers took part in the march that began from the West Fort junction. They staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate. Addressing the dharna, Senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran said that the proposed Food Security Bill should primarily address the problems of farmers. He urged the Union government to reconsider the revision of fertilizer prices. The country was facing an agrarian crisis, Mr. Sudheeran said. “Most of the farmers want to quit farming. Youth are shying away from agriculture.” The increasing production cost, shortage of labour and poor support price had made farming unviable, he said. Urgent mitigation policies were needed to make agriculture attractive, he added. Mr. Sudheeran said the pressure on land was increasing and the average size of land holding was dwindling. The area under paddy cultivation in the State had declined from eight lakh hectares to two and a half lakh hectares. “We need to improve productivity and profitability,'” he said. The farmers were not even getting the power subsidy that has been given to the small industries, he said. He urged the Chief Minister to convene an urgent meeting to discuss the issue of the Kole farmers. Major demands of the farmers included comprehensive development package for kole fields, increase in pumping subsidy (Rs. 187.50 that was fixed in 1986 has not been revised yet), increase in production bonus, reducing the deposit for power connection and allotting fund for Kole Development Agency. Kole Karshaka Sangam president K.K. Kochumohammed, general secretary N. K. Subramanian and former MLA Murali Perunnelly and others attended the function.