When it rained misery on farmers

For Karnataka’s agrarian sector, which was hit by three spells of heavy flooding in the monsoon season last year, 2021 appears to have started on a sore note.

Unseasonal rainfall in many parts of the state during the first half of January has resulted in losses of various crops along with fears of reduced Rabi (winter season) yield due to an increase in soil moisture levels.

While plantation owners appear to be the worst hit among the farming community during the week-long spell of scattered rainfall in different parts of the state, farmers preparing for the harvest of late Kharif (monsoon) or early Rabi crops were also affected.

Compared with the damages caused due to floods during the monsoon season, losses due to untimely rainfall in January were concentrated in isolated land pockets that were smashed by heavy showers. According to official sources, regions with black soil in Mumbai-Karnataka, Central Karnataka and Mysuru region were hit badly due to the freak weather phenomenon.

“Though the rainfall was not as heavy as the ones that induced floods earlier in the fiscal, unseasonal rains in January affected soil moisture,” G S Srinivas Reddy, senior consultant, Revenue Department (Disaster Management) told DH.

While yield of crops in black soil regions is usually affected by insufficient moisture levels, the crops this year will be affected by excess moisture levels. “Heavy rainfall during monsoons had saturated the soil moisture levels. The excess moisture created by the recent spells of rainfall will affect yield, especially in low-lying farm land,” Reddy said.

Farmers, who had their crops damaged during the southwest monsoon season and opted for a late Kharif or early Rabi sowing, are also hit. Those harvesting the late Kharif crop lost a large portion of the yield due to the rains. Similar problems were faced by farmers who planted early Rabi crops.

Bengal gram, cotton, ragi and jowar were among the prominent crops that suffered damages in the plains of the state, in addition to widespread losses of plantation crops such as coffee and pepper.

Agriculture department officials said that the damages were highly localised and a minimum of 5 to 10% of the crops were damaged in areas which received showers in January.

According to farmer leader Kuraburu Shanthakumar, food crops such as paddy - cultivated as a late Kharif crop - also took a hit. Crop losses were reported in several districts, he said, adding that adverse weather conditions had proved detrimental to farmers.

Sources said that compared with the plains, preliminary estimates indicated that the damages were more in Malnad region where cash crops are cultivated. “Rain hit when we were picking and drying coffee beans. While partially dried beans of several farmers were washed away, beans ready for picking dropped after the showers accompanied by heavy winds,” Shreyas H, who owns a coffee plantation in Chikkamagaluru, said.

“Village-to-village surveys are under progress,” Revenue Minister R Ashoka told DH. “I’ve visited some farms and plantations where damages were reported. Losses are more in districts such as Kodagu, Chitradurga and Haveri,” he said.