With poor, delayed rainfall, farm output to take a hit

Poor rainfall and low reservoir levels have affected sowing of kharif crops like paddy, cotton, sugarcane, oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals in the state.

Dry spells continue in most districts despite the South-West monsoon covering the entire state.

According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) report, from June 1 to June 24, the state, as a whole, recorded 40 per cent deficit rainfall. Against normal rainfall of 144 mm, the region received just 88 mm, a shortfall of 60 mm. Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gadag, Koppal, Raichur, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Bellary, Chamarajanagar, Chikballapur, Chitradurga, Davangere, Hassan, Mandya, Ramanagaram and Tumkur have received a deficit of 60-90 per cent.

Sowing has been done on just 7.8 lakh hectares as against the target of 10.88 lakh hectares as on June 25. Met officials say the situation is likely to improve in July and August.

“Light to moderate rain/thundershowers will occur at a few places over all the districts of north interior Karnataka and south interior Karnataka in the next few days and it would turn normal by next month,” said B Puttanna, director-in-charge, Indian Meteorological Department. The Agriculture Department is banking on this. “Though the situation is below par, it is not likely to affect food production. July rains are crucial and it is likely to improve sowing targets,” said Dharam Raj, Additional Director (crops), Department of Agriculture.

Production of crops like paddy, ragi, jowar, onion, chilli and tur is likely to be delayed owing to shortfall and delayed rains. Paddy saplings have been planted on 0.4 lakh hectares.

The area under pulses like tur, horse gram, black gram and green gram are less than last year and normal coverage by 0.92 lakh ha and 0.24 lakh ha respectively.

With regard to the reservoir levels, the present level at Linganamakki and Supa reservoirs is less by 16.80 feet and 31.16 feet respectively, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Similarly, in Cauvery basin, the levels at Harangi, KRS and Kabini is less by 38.13 feet, 24.34 feet and 15.85 feet respectively, when compared to previous year’s levels.