Food production in Karnataka may drop by 25-30% in 2019

BENGALURU: Karnataka is staring at a sizeable fall in food production this year, thanks to unprecedented rain and floods during both the kharif and rabi seasons.


If the state fails to make up for kharif losses in the rabi season — sowing of which ends this month — agriculture department officials say the slump in production of food grains and pulses will be around 25-30%.

The kharif crop, which accounts for around 70% of the state’s food grain production, was badly hit by heavy rains and floods and officials are now depending on the rabi crop to achieve targets for the year.

The government had set a target of 110 lakh tonnes for the year, but may realise a total yield of only 80-85 lakh tonnes. Sowing for the kharif season was done on 72lakh hectares, but floods in August destroyed standing crops on 7.5 lakh hectares.

Many farmers, whose crops survived the floods, were hoping for a bountiful harvest, but a second bout of rain that lashed the state in October dashed all hopes. Although crops in many districts were ready for harvest, farmers were unable to even access their fields with harvesting equipment.

In Belagavi district alone, thousands of farmers who had sown soyabean are still waiting for rain to stop to harvest their crops, most of which are rotting.

“It’s been more than 15 days since we reaped, but we could not harvest the crop due to rain,” said Basavaraj Thimmapur from Kittur, Belagavi district. Thimmapur said he cannot even get to his three-acre field. It’s the same with crops like groundnut, sunflower and Bengal gram.

Ajjappa Hadimani, a farmer in Bagalkot district, says his crops, which were kept in piles, are being affected too. “Since the crops are piled up, moisture is evaporating due to excess heat,” Hadimani said. “The quality of grain is getting affected.”

The agriculture department says so far, rabi crops have been sown only on 12 lakh hectares as against a target of 33 lakh hectares. If rains continue, output will be further hit.

“Because of torrential rain, farmers are unable to take up sowing activities,” an official said, adding that in a normal year at least 70% of sowing should have been completed by the first week of November.