Davangere: Continuous heavy rains in Harihar taluk of Davangere district have wreaked havoc on garlic cultivation, leaving hundreds of farmers in despair. In Ere Hosahalli village alone, over 300 acres of garlic crop has been destroyed due to excessive moisture, shattering the livelihoods of growers who had invested lakhs of rupees in anticipation of a good harvest.

Garlic is the primary crop in Ere Hosahalli, where farmers have been cultivating it for decades. This year too, they had pinned hopes on strong yields and better market prices. But unseasonal and persistent rainfall over the last three months has waterlogged fields, causing the crop to rot before harvest.

“We spent between ₹30,000 and ₹40,000 per acre, but all of it has gone waste. The crop has rotted in the fields, and we cannot recover even 10% of our costs. The government must conduct a crop-loss survey and give us compensation,” said farmer Sanjeev Reddy, showing his devastated field.

Farmers pointed out that garlic, which should have been harvested, dried, and sold in the market by now, is lying in soggy fields, unsellable even as seed. Some have attempted to uproot and salvage the crop for drying, but the continuing rains have dashed those hopes too.

“I have been cultivating garlic for 15 years, but this is the first time we are facing such complete destruction. Normally, one acre yields 10 to 11 quintals of garlic. This year, we are not even getting 3 to 4 quintals. Even if we pay laborers to harvest, it won’t fetch returns. It feels like everything we invested has been sacrificed to rain,” lamented Ashok Reddy, another farmer.

Adding to their misery, farmers said other crops such as onion and maize have also failed this year. Ashok explained that his family had sown garlic on seven acres at a cost of ₹2.10 lakh, besides three acres of onion and 15 acres of maize. “The onion crop also failed, and now garlic has collapsed too. This year we have suffered unprecedented losses,” he said.

The local market price for garlic stands at around ₹2,000–3,000 per quintal, but with poor yields and rotting bulbs, farmers said they are left with no way to repay debts. Many worry they may be pushed deeper into the cycle of loans.

Despite their despair, the growers have approached the government, urging officials to step in with relief. “We demand a proper survey of losses and at least minimum compensation per acre. Without this, small farmers will not survive this crisis,” said Sanjeev Reddy.