BENGALURU: Karnataka is gazing at a sizeable fall in food production this year, because of extreme rain and floods throughout the Kharif and rabi seasons.
If the state neglects to compensate for Kharif losses in the rabi season — the planting of which closes this month — farming office authorities state the droop underway of food grains and pulses will be nearby 25-30%.
The Kharif crop, which represents around 70% of the state’s foodgrain production, was gravely hit by overwhelming rains and floods and authorities are presently relying upon the rabi crop to reach targets for the year.
The administration had set an objective of 110 lakh tons for the year however may understand an all-out yield of just 80-85 lakh tons. Planting for the Kharif season was done on 72 lakh hectares, yet floods in August devastated standing yields on 7.5 lakh hectares. “Many farmers, whose crops remain after the floods, were seeking after a plentiful harvest, however, the second episode of rain that lashed the state in October fell all expectations. Even though crops in numerous locales were prepared for reap, farmers were not able to even access their fields with harvesting machinery.
In the Belagavi region alone, a huge number of farmers who had planted soybean are as yet trusting that the rain will stop to reap their crops, the vast majority of which are decaying.
“It’s been over 15 days since we reaped, however, we couldn’t collect the harvest because of rain,” said Basavaraj Thimmapur from Kittur, Belagavi locale. Thimmapur said he can’t get to his three-section of land field. It’s equivalent to crops like groundnut, sunflower, and Bengal gram. “Ajjappa Hadimani, a farmer in Bagalkot area, says his harvests, which were kept in stores, are being affected as well. “Since the harvests are piled up, dampness is dissipating because of plenty of heat,” Hardiman said. “The nature of grain is becoming affected.”
“The agriculture department says up until this point, rabi crops have been planted solely on 12 lakh hectares as against a target of 33 lakh hectares. If the rains proceed, the crops will be additionally hit. “As a result of heavy rains, farms can’t take up planting exercises,” an authority stated, including that in a typical year, in any event, 70% of planting ought to have been finished by the main seven day stretch of November.
