SIRSI: Areca growers of the twin taluks of Siddapur and Sirsi are worried about falling tender areca pods.
Diseases like fruit rot, bud rot, crown rot and bacterial blight are spreading in these taluks following incessant rain in June and July.Over 30 acres of areca farm belonging to 25 growers at Ainbail village in Siddapur are worst affected by these diseases. About 50-60 per cent of crops are lost this year.
The growers urged the government to come to their rescue.They told Express that though they sprayed bordo (copper sulfate) mixture thrice but in vain.
The growers say they have lost hope of harvesting in December as such a huge quantity of tender areca are falling.The intensity of the disease is much more than the imagination and one cannot withstand it at any cost, said grower Ramachandra Hegde from Ainabail.
The government had earlier distributed relief cheques for small amounts as a solace but the problem continued, said Narayan Gowda, another grower. Similar reports are received from villages like Chapparamane, Kyadagi, Dodmane, Tyagali in Siddapur taluk, Kolgibis, Janamane in Sirsi taluk and from some parts of Yellapur taluk, he said.
The affected growers urged the agriculture and horticulture officers to visit their farm to survey the crop loss and send a report to the government. When contacted, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Sirsi, H R Naik said washing away of nutrients due to heavy rainfall, deficiency of calcium, boron, potash and zinc, improper management and the like could be the reasons for falling of areca pods. The reason could be traced only by visiting the fields, he added.
Honnappa Gowda, joint director of Agriculture, Karwar, said nutrition supply, soil and air block and excess water might have caused fungus. As there are four-five reasons for falling of areca pods, root grub, deficiency of nutrition and water logging can also cause the reasons, he added.
He said he would arrange a joint team comprising horticulture and agriculture scientists to visit the village to survey the crop loss and find a solution to the problem.