State seeks Rs 3.3K-crore Central aid for rabi crop loss

Karnataka on Thursday sought Rs 3,310 crore from the Centre for rabi crop loss in the state due to dry and warm winter.

Karnataka Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who submitted a memorandum to the Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh here, told journalists that the state has urged the Centre to send a team of officials to calamity-hit areas to study the situation.

The state witnessed 71% shortfall in rain in August and September and suffered Rs 7,097-crore crop loss in rabi season. They also urged the Centre to release Rs 1,782 crore sanctioned to take up relief for crop loss in the monsoon season.

In rabi season crops, which is also called the winter crop, mainly jowar, sunflower, bengal gram and linseed are grown in Karnataka. Rabi crops depend on moisture.

Prolonged dry spell

As Karnataka witnessed warm and dry weather this year, it led to crop damage, said an official in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Sowing of rabi crops was taken up on 25.98 lakh hectares as against the target of 32.25 lakh hectares this year. But a prolonged dry spell during rabi season adversely affected agricultural crops on 13.5 lakh hectares and horticultural crops on 15,092 hectares.

This is the second consecutive year where both kharif and rabi crops suffered loss due to drought in the state, said the memorandum.