MANGALURU: A deficit monsoon has led to serious concerns over shrinking wetlands and a drinking water crisis in the coastal districts. The cultivation of paddy, a major agricultural crop, has taken a severe beating in Dakshina Kannada (DK), Udupi and Uttara Kannada (UK) due to a deficit in the southwest monsoon which was about 19 percent till Saturday. The 3 districts have achieved just over 40 percent of their set target so far for paddy planting. But with the monsoon picking up since the last 10 days across the region, sowing and transplantation have gained momentum across the region.
Babu Shetty, a farmer in Hirgana in Karkala taluk said that though the onset of monsoon was not kind to paddy farmers, July rains came as a respite. ‘’Many farmers like me could not expedite sowing in June. But, direct sowing method adopted by us helped us a lot.’’ Under ‘direct sowing’ methods, plants are not subjected to any stress as plants are not pulled from the soil for transplanting purpose.
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Seetha MC, Joint Director, Agriculture Department, Dakshina Kannada, said paddy cultivation has witnessed a decreasing trend mainly due to less rainfall since the past many years. During the last Kharif season, sowing took place only in 10,500 hectares in DK against the target of 22,000 hectares. The situation is no different in Udupi and UK districts.
A few decades ago, Paddy was the major crop in coastal districts. But due to labour shortage and various other factors, the paddy fields got converted into areca and rubber plantations. Now with the rains playing truant, the agriculturists fear that chances of farmers converting their paddy fields into ‘risk-free’ plantations are more.
Honnappa Gowda, joint director of the agriculture department, UK, said, every year cultivation land has been decreasing due to drought or flood-like situations. This year till July 25, only 53 per cent cultivation has taken place. Less than 10 per cent cultivation has taken place in Ankola and Joida taluks. His Dakshina Kannada counterpart Kempegowda H said poor rainfall in June has reduced the acreage of paddy by about 8,000 hectares. ‘’However, we are hopeful of reaching the target of 36,000 hectares’’ he said.
Many reservoirs in the region are nearing full capacity but that has not done away with fears of drinking water crisis during the coming summer. This is because, the number of rainy days has come down in the region which has led to a drinking water crisis especially in Mangaluru, Udupi and other towns.
The inflow to reservoirs that supply water gets significantly reduced in December-January due to less rainy days and infrastructural projects like Yettinahole and others that are underway in the eco-sensitive Western Ghats. Since the last few years, the districts are being declared drought-hit which was not the case in the past.
This has prompted the need for a coastal reservoir though it is said to be not good for marine life on which hundreds of families are dependent for their livelihood in this region. (Inputs from Arunkumar Huralimath, Prakash Samaga)