JOIN USHeavy rain worries ryots in Sakleshpur
The rains which began to lash the district from June first week gave a short break for a couple of days and continued.
The villages at the fringes of Western Ghats Hongadahalli, Athihalli, Palta, Kaginahare, Bisile, Maranahalli, Banalu, Angani and other villages recorded an average of 3180 mm rain. Hanubalu, Kasaba, Yasaluru, Hethuru hoblis recorded an average of 2,500 mm of rain.
The average rainfall during the last year at Western Ghats was an average of 2,200 mm.
The rains are more compared to last year and accompanied with heavy winds it has damaged coffee, pepper, ginger and at some places even paddy crops.
Crop loss
The continuous rain accompanied by wind, lack of sunlight has resulted in increase in dampness of the soil and the coffee crops are affected with rotten disease. Apart from Ballu, Belegodu and surrounding areas, majority of the villages have complained of the rotten disease.
The fully grown coffee berries were seen dropping causing anxiety among the farmers. Vishwanath, a farmer from Kyanahalli said that if there is no proper sunlight for at least a minimum of fifteen days, Arabica and Robusta varieties of coffee would be destroyed to a large extent incurring huge losses to the farmers.
Not only coffee, even the climbers of black pepper corns are affected due to the disease. There should at least be a break of one week for the soil to dry. Even the grass patches are being washed away and the cattle are being devoid of fodder, he said.
But the non-stop rain lashing the district has surely become a cause of worry for the farmers.