Mangaluru: “Nearly 5,97,000 hectares of agricultural land in Karnataka has been used for other purposes in last decade,” said state agricultural pricing commission President Prakash Kammaradi.

Addressing the press personnel in DC office on Tuesday he said that these statistics were obtained after conducting a survey. Yearly 60,000 hecters of land is being used for other than agricultural purposes. The reports will be submitted to the government soon by the pricing commission.

“All the developments which took place in the state have been studied during the survey. Situation is very serious and it has adverse impact also. Farmers are being attracted towards BT cotton, corn, sugar cane and arecanut. Food grain cultivation is decreasing drastically. Remedy for the problem is also quoted in the report,” he said.

He further said that this year farmers may face double-trouble. As the rain fall is not up to the mark in this year, no much yield is expected and the prices of the grains may also fall down.

“The commission is trying provide the support price for all the crops and other facilities to the farmers,” he added.