Farmers of Hassan district are anticipating a severe drought, given the deficit rainfall so far. Since the onset of monsoon, except Sakaleshpur taluk, no other place has received normal rainfall. The district administration has asked officers of Agriculture Department to visit the fields and assess the status of crops. The officers are expected to submit a report within a week.
Growers of paddy, ginger, potato and horticulture crops worry about losing yield. “There was a delay in the onset of monsoon. We were expecting good rainfall in July and August, but there were no sufficient rains. Even those farmers who had borewells could not provide water for their crops as hundreds of borewells have dried up,” said Kari Gowda, a farmer in Halebidu.
Parts of Belur taluk are worst hit as the taluk recorded a deficit rainfall of 45 per cent. Sowing in kharif has been completed in 1.86 lakh hectares of the district, against the target of 2.54 lakh hectares.
R. Ramachandrappa, Joint Director of Agriculture, told The Hindu, “The district has registered a deficit rainfall of 11 per cent. The normal rainfall expected since the onset of monsoon was 699.5 mm of rainfall, but what we received is only 616.88 mm. I have instructed the field officers to submit reports on the crop status.”
Hassan, Alur, Holenarasipur, Arakalgudu, Arasikere and Channarayapatna have received less than normal rainfall. Borewells and tanks have become dry, worsening the drinking water crisis. Residents of villages in Arasikere taluk are getting drinking water through tankers.
Going by the rainfall reports since January this year, the Malenadu region is the worst hit in the state. The average rainfall received in Hassan, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu district (Malenadu) is 29 per cent less than the normal. Against the expected rainfall of 1,481 mm of rainfall, the region received only 1,048 mm.
As many as 57 taluks in 11 districts of the state have recorded deficit rainfall.
