Rains leave farmers, food processing industries reeling

Farmers and food processing cottage industries across Karnataka have taken a big hit due to the pre-monsoon rain that has been battering the state for several days now.

The revenue department has estimated the extent of crop loss at 7,010 hectares of agriculture land while horticulture crops on 5,736 hectares have also been destroyed, according to government sources.

In a review meeting with all the deputy commissioners on Saturday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai directed agriculture, horticulture and revenue officials to conduct a joint survey of crop losses across the state.

While agriculture has been hit, horticulture has been severely impacted, said Kuruburu Shanthakumar, President of Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association.

While winter is the usual harvest season, farmers grow short-term crops like legumes and vegetables during summer.

“Sometimes, vegetables bring good revenue. But, this year, heavy rains destroyed almost 50% of the vegetables. The farmers who were badly affected due to the Covid crisis are suffering an additional burden now."

In districts such as Davanagere, rains have not only disrupted paddy and ragi harvesting activities but also have affected their quality with moisture.

If the rains continue for some more days, the growers will be in deep trouble. Farmers in Dakshina Kannada said even production of boiled rice from the Rabi crop has been hit. The crop harvested in March this year is yet to be boiled and dried at many places.

Mango crop has not escaped the rain havoc either.

Ganesh, representative of Chitradurga Farmer Producers' Organisation told DH, "Owing to heavy wind and also hailstones, we lost mango flowers and even unripe fruits, which were supposed to be harvested soon. As it is, the flowering was less this time and the rain caused further damage."

Food processing

Industries involved in processing of fruits such as mango, banana and jackfruit in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts are on tenterhooks.

Shashikala, who is part of the Shree Sanga Sanjeevini Self Help Group in Mangaluru, said preparation of pickles has been affected due to the torrential rains.

“Pickles prepared without preservatives get contaminated with fungus because of the rains. We also prepare prawn pickle. Owing to the ban on fishing due to the cyclonic conditions in sea, the supply of prawn pickles was also reduced this time," she said.

Pradeep, CEO of Farmers Producer organisation in Vitla, said value-added products from jackfruit like papad and chips have suffered due to rains and lack of sunlight. "We began processing bananas and jackfruit in May this year. We had to stop within a week because of the rains," he said.

(With inputs from Mangaluru, Davanagere and Mysuru bureaus)