Farmers in South Karnataka region, including Mysuru, Mandya, and Chamarajanagar belt, are staring at stunted crop growth and lower yield due to the prolonged dry spell and delay in the onset of the southwest monsoon.
The scenario is the same across most districts in the region where monsoon is yet to gain traction and is evident in depleting reservoir levels. Farmers have taken up crop cultivation in the foreshore area of the backwaters of the Krishnaraja Sagar as the water level in the reservoir is depleting and was around 78.12 feet.
Sowing has been impacted considerably and in Mysuru district sowing has been completed on 1,86,245 hectares as against the target of 3,97,879 hectares as on July 1. This accounts for 47% of the actual target but this is expected to improve in case the monsoon revives and gains traction.
Sources in the Agriculture Department said the bulk of the sowing takes place in areas where farming activity takes place under rain-fed conditions. Farmers took to sowing as early as in April/May when there were pre-monsoon showers. But this was followed by a prolonged dry spell in June but for intermittent rain in patches. Though the bulk of the crops cultivated are drought-resistant, the yield is expected to reduce if the monsoon is further delayed, said the officials.
There was dry spell when the early kharif crops had matured and lack of adequate moisture resulted in stunted growth and wilting.
In Mysuru, the shortfall in rain was 34% during June and as against the normal rainfall of 94.7 mm for the month, Mysuru received 60.3 mm.
But officials said given the crop diversification in Mysuru district, the loss will be relatively less. As many as 21 varieties of crops are cultivated for kharif, including maize, ragi, jowar, millets, green gram, horse gram, groundnut, sesame, sunflower, and cotton. The target for paddy cultivation is 1,03,200 hectares for the year but sowing is yet to commence. Being a water-intensive crop and scanty rains, sowing and cultivation take place during August/September when the reservoir levels are encouraging.
In Mandya, sowing was completed on 17,500 hectares during the third week of June as per the KSNDMC as against the target of 1,95,500 hectares. In Chamarajanagar, it was 41,400 hectares, which is 35% of the target.
