Erratic rainfall leaves farmers of tur belt in dire straits

The spatio-temporal variation of rainfall has wreaked havoc for the farmers of the tur belt. Farmers of Kalyana Karnataka are grappling with crop wilting due to a below par monsoon in June and August. Most regions are still experiencing drought despite brief spells of rain.

Farmers have sowed tur crops on 5.83 lakh hectares out of the total 8.56 lakh hectares of farmland in Kalaburagi district. Kalaburagi experienced a few days of incessant showers in July.  But the district had seen an overall 82 per cent deficit in rainfall in August. This has resulted in a reduced moisture content in the black cotton soil of the region, even manifesting in wide fissures. 

Even though the rain last week has revived several crops like maize, sugarcane and sunflower, farmers claim that yield and the quality of crops may not meet the mark as erratic rainfall has had an impact on the roots of the plants.

“I have grown tur crop on five acres and it was on the verge of drying up. Now heavy showers have damaged the standing crop. I may hardly get a yield of 2 quintals per acre against the expected five quintals. I am struggling to get back the Rs 25,000, I had invested in sowing the crop,” laments Mangalamurthy, a farmer from Gadikeshwar village in Chincholi taluk.

Similarly, in Bidar, Yadgir and Raichur districts, jowar, cereals and pulse crops are wilting due to a below-normal rainfall since June.

The irrigation consultative committee has already commenced the release of water on a rota basis until November 11 from the Narayanpur reservoir. The reservoir had received good inflow from Maharashtra dams. 

Farmers on the tail-end have expressed resentment over the water not reaching them. The dam has a total command area of 6 lakh hectares. 

Ballari, Koppal and Vijayanagar districts are facing drinking water problems, affecting even cattle. Almost 75 per cent of the crops in these districts have dried up due to the monsoon failure. 

“I have grown chilly, tur and maize on five acres. I have appealed to the tahsildar to supply fodder as our haystack stock has diminished due to the failure of crops. But, the officials claimed that they will take measures in this regard only if the state government announces our taluk as drought-hit,” said Shivu Nandihal, the farmer of Jageer Nandihal village in Lingasgur taluk of Raichur district. The taluk was declared drought-hit on Thursday.

The government has declared 38 of the 48 taluks as drought-hit in the seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka region. 

Tungabhadra reservoir assistant executive engineer Basappa Jankar said that the dam has about 71.4 tmcft of water at present, against the full capacity of 105.788 tmcft. 

He explained that a total of 30 tmcft of water has been released to irrigation canals from August 3. There would be a shortfall of at least 25 tmcft in regular water supply for the following two months to save the paddy crop grown in four districts. He claimed that water can be supplied only to 5.5 lakh hectares though the dam has a command area of 9.26 lakh hectares. “This is due to violation of crop patterns by farmers,” he said.

“The government has declared all 11 taluks in Kalaburagi district as drought-hit following 82 per cent deficit rainfall in August. Moreover, the farmers will get merely 25-30 per cent yield in tur and red gram crops. We will submit a preliminary report about crop damage to the government. The final report will be given after assessment of the loss suffered by the farmers and it will take some time,” Kalaburagi agriculture department joint director Samad Patel said.