The delayed monsoon in many parts of the state has become a cause for concern, as the expected low yield and inability of farmers to cope with the crisis may lead to imminent farm distress. Expecting the monsoon to arrive in June as usual, farmers launched sowing operations in many districts, but the delayed monsoon eventually put them in a quandary.
However, the monsoon has picked up pace in the past few days, bringing smiles on farmers’ faces across most of the state. Agricultural activities are hampered everywhere, and the situation is likely to improve only if the state records a good amount of rainfall over the next few weeks.
Several agricultural experts feel the deficit rainfall in the initial phase of the monsoon has already done its damage, and is likely to affect production of several important crops, including paddy, soyabean, vegetables, jowar, green gram, black gram, coffee, maize etc. Around 60 per cent of sowing has taken place in most of the districts of North Karnataka. Sources said major crops like paddy, coffee and arecanut in the coastal regions of the state are expected to be badly affected due to the poor monsoon this time.
According to data furnished by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC), as of July 22, as many as 16 districts in Karnataka come under deficit rainfall, 13 districts saw normal rainfall and two districts got excess rain from June 1 to July 22 this monsoon.
Ravi Gachchinamani, a farmer from Budihal village of Ron taluk in Gadag, said, “It would have been nice if we got good rain during the second or third week of June, but the delayed monsoon had many of us worried. At least now it is raining, and if it continues for four days, it will be good for us to start sowing.’’
Farmer M K Suhas Ballal from Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada said since there was no rain, the transplantation process got delayed. “Due to a late monsoon and shortage of water, pre-transplant activities like raising nurseries, tilling the field and mixing cow manure was also delayed. Fields in elevated areas depend on rainwater while the lower plains do not require much water. Delay in the monsoon will affect harvesting, hence rice production may reduce this year,” he said.
However, H Kempe Gowda, joint director of agriculture, Dakshina Kannada, said with the monsoon picking up, agricultural activities have started and transplanting of paddy can be done up to the second week of August. There is no direct impact on paddy cultivation, he added.
JOB ONLY HALF DONE
Last year by this time, 50 per cent of crop sowing was done, but this year, the delay in monsoon and rainfall deficit has led to 40 per cent sowing, said Agriculture Minister N Cheluvaraya Swamy. This could impact certain crops like green gram and black gram. But crops like jowar and ragi have time till August. “We are hoping for better rain in the coming days,’’ he said.
He has instructed officials to be prepared for a drought-like situation. “As per NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) norms, there should be rain deficit for more than 60 days. We have not seen such a situation until now. However, in certain taluks, there could be such a situation. We are having a meeting by the month-end, by which time we will be able to get a clearer picture. We will take a call, but I have already told officials to gear up to face any situation,’’ he said.
Pests and diseases have severely affected arecanut growers in Dakshina Kannada district, and this is aggravated due to climate change, said Dr Vinayaka Hegde, head (crop protection), ICAR- CPCRI, Kasargod. “Dry weather in summer favoured pests. Pentatomid bugs and mites (red and white mite) are considered to be the major problem for arecanut, particularly during the summer months. High temperature and low humidity in summer favoured the mite to multiply faster. It has a short lifecycle and can spread quickly during favourable conditions,” he said.
With rain deficit, major reservoirs in the state are not yet filled up. Things were worse a couple of weeks ago, but are improving. The gross capacity of 13 major reservoirs is 865.20 tmcft, but as on date, storage stands at just 300.95 tmcft, while it was 662.71 tmcft during the corresponding period last year.
CLIMATE VARIABILITY AFFECTS CROPPING
Experts say that climate variability is increasing due to climate change, which is affecting cropping pattern, crops and farmers at large. The erratic rainfall occurring year on year and increasing incidents of bucket rainfall indicate climate variability.
Indu K Murthy, sector head, Climate, Environment and Sustainability, at the Centre for Study of Science Technology and Policy, told The New Indian Express that rain has been bad so far. However, it cannot be said that it will continue till the end of the season or even next year. Average monsoon could be normal, however, there could be sporadic rainfall. Distribution of rainfall remains a matter of concern.
Experts also point out that while citizens argue that climate change effect is for urban areas due to change in land use, heat islands and concretisation, the reality is that it has a cumulative effect. Due to this, the onset and spread of monsoon is altered, affecting the sowing and cropping pattern. They also point out that increased use of IP sets will also have an effect in areas where there is assured irrigation.
KALABURAGI: SOWN CROP AFFECTED
The one and half month delay in the monsoon has affected production of green gram and black gram. According to sources, though the target of sowing green gram on 51,500 hectares in Kalaburagi was set in the first week of June, farmers have cultivated only 30,083 hectares (58%). The target of sowing black gram on 24,250 hectares also did not materialise due to late arrival of rain, and farmers cultivated black gram on 17,051 acres of land. In 2022, green gram was cultivated on 45,032 hectares of land (86% of the target) and black gram was cultivated on 24,949 hectares (77%).
GADAG SUFFERS DRY SPELL
Farmers in many parts of Gadag lost their crops repeatedly in the past few years, and again failed to produce kharif crops this time. Many farmers lost their crops last October due to incessant rain, and this time, the kharif crop due to the delayed monsoon. Farmers were worried as the district got less rain in June, and farmers of Naragund have appealed to the government to declare Gadag and surrounding parts as drought-hit, as hundreds of farmers have suffered crop loss.
DHARWAD: A RAY OF HOPE
Several farmers who had already taken up sowing, were worried due to month-long delay in the monsoon. However, the amount of rain received since last week has given a ray of hope for the farmers. According to sources, sowing was taken up on 1.47 lakh hectares, against the expected 2.57 lakh hectares, due to scanty rainfall.
DAKSHINA KANNADA: PADDY CROP HIT
There is concern among paddy farmers of a loss in rice production. This year, the agriculture department has set a target of 9,390 hectares for paddy cultivation in the district, and many farmers are staring at a loss. Mangaluru taluk tops the district among key paddy producing areas in Dakshina Kannada, with 5,700 hectares followed by Belthangady with 1,600 hectares, and Bantwal which grows paddy on 1,510 hectares. Minor paddy cultivating taluks are Puttur with 370 hectares and Sullia with 210 hectares.
KODAGU: COFFEE BEARS BRUNT
Kodagu’s farming activities have lost pace in recent times due to changing weather cond-itions. While coffee got badly affected, paddy cultivation too is impacted. The district has paddy cultivation across 30,000 hectares. While transplantation work was to begin in July, it got delayed due to scanty rain. Of the targeted paddy cultivation across 30,500 hectares, 400 hectares was cultivated as on July 21. Since Somwarpet taluk has recorded sufficient rain, several farmlands have just finished transplantation work. Not a single farmland has recorded paddy transplantation in South Kodagu. However, since Kodagu has been getting rain in the past three days, 7,546 hectares of land has been readied with seedlings awaiting transplantation.
UDUPI: SOWING YET TO TOUCH TARGET
Paddy farmers across Udupi district have a target of 38,000 hectares for this kharif season, however, as on July 20, the sowing and transplantation process was completed only on 25,635 hectares. Seetha M C, joint director, agriculture department, Udupi district, says nursery raising of paddy seedlings and transplantation, which is commonly followed in this region, will stop now because of deficit rain.
HASSAN: SOWING AREA STRETCHES
The sowing area has slightly increased this year in Hassan. Statistics show that farmers have sown different crops across 1,19,671 hectares, against an average area of 2,45,569 hectares in 2023- 24, despite witnessing drought. Last year, it was 1,10,646 hectares, against the target of 2,53,096 hectares. The per-centage of sowing this year is 48.73%, while it was 43.72%, despite good rain. Over 35% of standing crops, including maize and potato withered.
(Inputs from Ashwini M Sripad, Bosky Khanna, Udaya Kumar BR, Prajna GR, Prakash Samaga, Divya Cutinho, Mallikarjun Hiremath, Raghu Koppar, Ramakrishna Badseshi)