Farmers in Yadgir have demanded that the State government declare the district as drought-hit.
Farmers have taken up sowing in just 23% of the 4.01 lakh hectares target set by the Agriculture Department during this monsoon.
The climate is not favourable for sowing as the district has not received even one good spell of rain yet in this season.
Therefore, a majority of farmers have not sown green gram, which is considered as a short-term cash crop, but have switched to cotton hoping for rain in the coming days.
“Farmers can sow cotton till the 15th of July,“ according to Abid S.S., Joint Director of the Agriculture Department.
He further said that so far, the farmers have sown green gram in 4,800 hectares against a target of 19,000 hectares. Red gram has been taken up in 24,000 hectares against a target of 82,750 hectares and cotton has been sown in 62,000 hectares against a target of 1,86,297 hectares.
According to reports, rainfall has been inconsistent since the beginning of June. The district recorded 61 mm against a normal of 99 mm in June. As much as 26.7 mm rainfall has been received against a normal of 18.6 mm between June 30 and July 6. In the last 24 hours, 2.3 mm rainfall has been recorded against a normal of 3.8 mm.
Despite scarce rainfall, farmers who prepared land have started sowing cotton in a majority of the areas in the district.
Under the circumstances, the State government should come forward to help farmers by declaring the district as drought-hit and announce compensation, farmers organisations have said.
“Sowing has been hit across the district due to shortage in rainfall. The State government should immediately take steps and declare the district as drought-hit and announce compensation for farmers,” Mallikarjun Satyampet, leader of farmers, has said.
