The Hindu : Delayed monsoon hits sowing in State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 27, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Delayed monsoon hits sowing in State

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA June 26. The delay in the onset of the monsoon has seriously affected sowing in most parts of the State. As against the total kharif area of 69 lakh hectares, sowing has been completed only in 2.52 lakh hectares.

Disclosing this to The Hindu, the Commissioner for Agriculture, E.V.Ramana Reddy, said the poor sowing in the beginning of the year was mainly due to the two-week delay in the onset of the monsoon. During the corresponding period last year, sowing had been completed in around 12 lakh hectares. However, the State, which received good rainfall in June making farmers take up sowing in a large area, faced a drought-like situation in July and the crop yield came down due to failure of rains.

This year, the situation was different. The latest prediction by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) was that rainfall in the State would be normal this year.

Dr. Reddy said that although the IMD forecast had raised hopes among agriculturists, there was a difference in perception about a good or normal season in terms of hydrology and agricultural practices.

"A good hydrological season may not necessarily be a good agricultural season." He said that although it had been raining in the State for the past few days, the rainfall was not uniform and widespread. If this trend continued, sowing would be further hit, and farmers would have no alternative but to switch over to other contingency crops.

On whether the rainfall pattern would have an impact on the foodgrain target fixed for the State, Dr. Reddy said the State's target was 104 lakh tonnes, which was four lakh tonnes more than the previous year's target. It would be premature to come to a conclusion on the fall in foodgrain production, he said.

Last year, there was a severe shortfall in foodgrain production. As against the target of 100 lakh tonnes, the actual production was only 63 lakh tonnes. This was mainly due to the fall in the yield of major crops due to failure of rain.

Due to the delay in the onset of the monsoon, the jowar crop in four lakh hectares was almost lost. Farmers were now shifting to other crops, and if the rain played truant, sowing of hybrid cotton and pulses such as red gram would be affected.

Dr. Reddy said soyabean and maize were gaining popularity among farmers and the area under soyabean had risen in the past two years.

The area under maize had also increased. Maize, which used to be cultivated in Kolar, Mysore, and parts of Bangalore in the past, had now spread to Davangere, Shimoga, Haveri, Gadag, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bellary, Shimoga and other districts in a big way.

Soyabean had replaced black gram in Gulbarga District, and the area under it was likely to go up to one lakh hectares this year from 65,000 hectares in Belgaum. The steady fall in oilseeds production in the State was mainly due to erratic rainfall and the fluctuation in market prices, Dr. Reddy said and added that 95 per cent of oilseeds was cultivated in rain-fed conditions. The failure of the farmers to practice the scientific agricultural practice of rotating crops had affected the yields, he said.

"The mono cropping of groundnut in rain-fed conditions will have its impact on the production," he said. Besides, no new varieties of groundnut suited for dry conditions had been released, and farmers were still dependent on the Tindivanam variety which was released in 1935.

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Delayed monsoon hits sowing in State