BENGALURU: For the past two months, farmers living in the Cauvery basin area have tried it all. From frog weddings to getting donkeys hitched and offering special pujas to appease the rain gods, praying for a good monsoon season to save them from ruin. With the Gods refusing to oblige so far, they’ve been reduced to staring at the skies with folded hands.
Barring 2018, South Karnataka has witnessed drought for six consecutive years. This year as well, the hopes of the community, which should have begun sowing in June, have been dashed. The region has recorded less than 53 per cent sowing and agriculture activities are yet to take off in many places, including Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts.
In Mysuru and Bengaluru districts, the sowing of pulses and crops like cotton and tobacco have seen some progress. But a dry spell during July will hit the yield of these crops. Farmers have lost groundnut crops in Tumakuru, Kolar and Mandya districts and are now dependent on cattle for their survival. Around 60 per cent of the sown pulses crop has been wiped out due to the erratic monsoon.
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According to Jayarame Gowda, a farmer from Shettihalli in Pandavpura, there was no fodder available to feed his four cows and a dozen sheep. “With no sign of rains, I am grazing cattle in the dried up groundnut farm. If this is the situation now, what will happen to us after December?” he asks.
With Kharif crops failing, the agriculture department has suggested growing Ragi, maize, horsegram and minor millets in Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajnagar districts. After losing their Kharif crops however, farmers are not making preparations for the Rabi crop fearing they would end up in debt. Drinking water supply in many districts is being carried out with water tankers by local bodies and the situation will turn grim if copious amounts of rain are not received in the next one month.
According to Sugar Cane Growers Association President Kurbur Shantha Kumar, farmers did not have enough water to save standing sugar cane crops. “We fear that there will be large scale migration and this will increase rural distress and farmer suicides. If they don’t get water for cultivation in the coming months, how will they survive with just 7 kilos of rice given by the Government?” he asked.
Agriculture Department Joint Director Mahantheshappa said that sowing is completed in 2.13 lakh hectares against the target of 4 lakh hectares in Mysuru district. Meanwhile, water levels in reservoirs of the Cauvery basin have hit rock bottom. The KRS, Kabini, Hemavathi and Harangi reservoirs are yet to get a steady inflow as the region is yet to see good rains.
The hot temperatures and failure of monsoon have also affected borewells in many Southern Karnataka districts as they have dried up. With the Government also going slow on drilling borewells under the Ganga Kalyana scheme, the level of borewells has already crossed 1000 feet, farmers say, with the success rate of finding water falling to less than 60 per cent while at the same time pushing up project costs for drilling such deep borewells.