Southern States - Karnataka   

Monsoon revival destroys standing crops in DK

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE OCT. 15. This kharif season has been disastrously for Dakshina Kannada. The beginning was uncertain due to the early withdrawal of monsoon. Now at the end of the season just when harvesting is nearing, the monsoon has revived, destroying standing crops.

During the last week, the district received 650 mm rainfall. This unexpected rainfall has dashed the hopes of a good harvest as standing crops have been hit and in some places, paddy has started sprouting pushing farmers into a financial crisis. Buntwal, which has the largest area under paddy, has reported extensive damage as 6,000 hectares of cultivated land of the 11,000 hectares are now in unsalvagable condition. Puttur, Mangalore and Belthangady taluks have also reported damage to crops. Sullia, which, however, has not much land under paddy, has suffered only minimum damage.

Vegetable production in the district has also been hit. Gherkins, long beans (Alasandae), the local variety of cucumber, green chillies and other items have been damaged and as a result the prices of these local varieties have risen in urban places in the district.Dakshina Kannada normally receives at least six hours of rainfall a day, which is nearly 60 mm of rainfall on an average per day with a let-up of a week for planting of saplings.

But this time, there has been bright sunlight throughout the nursing period and the fields have not been able to retain water that his necessary for nourishing saplings. According to the Agriculture Department officials, this condition leads to ``famished growth'' of saplings affecting crop yield. The department has targeted to produce 73,000 tonnes of rice, which is at least 3,000 tonnes more than last year's achievement of 70,688 tonnes. The spread in hectarage under paddy has increased from 34,378 in 2001-02 to 35,000 this year. Traditionally a paddy growing area, Dakshina Kannada, however, is a "excess rainfall region" making its paddy fields a testing ground for seeds. But with the poor rainfall, farmers, who have used local varieties such as Jaya and Netravati, are in for some gains while the excess water varieties could have low yield this time.

The department statistics show that nearly 55 per cent of the rain-fed area is under the traditional seed dispensation and 30 per cent under the excess water variety. Hybrid varieties such as MO 4 and Shakti have been procured from the National Seed Corporation, Hindustan Lever Limited and NEED Farms. According to the department sources, there is a need for 16,250 quintals of seeds with a replacement of 10 per cent at the end of the season.

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