Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 6 (IANS): The first day of the Malayalam month of Chingam, which falls on August 17, is to be observed by the powerful Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference as ‘Farmers Deception Day’.

This is to protest the anti- farmer policies of both the Kerala government as well as the central government.

Thamarassery Bishop, Remigiose Inchananiyil in a statement said that theKeralaCatholic Bishops Conference (KCBC) will conduct protest marches and stirs across the state if both the state and central governments do not come out with solutions to various issues faced by the farmers.

He said that the agricultural sector of Kerala was going from bad to worse and the farmers were suffering the most. The Bishop, who held a meeting of 61 farmers organisations at Kozhikode on Saturday, said that the state government was not doing anything to solve the issue of the fall in price of farmers produce.

The Bishop also said that if the government was not intervening in a timely nature, then the farmers would resort to agitations and strikes.

He also came out harshly against the central government and said that it was not taking any steps to increase the price of rubber to Rs 300 per kilogram which was a long pending demand of the rubber farmers.

He said that as part of the protest, a farmers rally would be announced from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram demanding both the state and central governments to intervene for increasing the prices of farm produce and help the farmers lead a better life.