Sowing hampered in state as monsoon plays truant

State has witnessed 36% shortfall in rainfall during first two weeks of monsoon

Sowing operations for Kharif 2014 are limping in Karnataka as the monsoon plays truant after entering the state a week late on June 8, 2014. During the first two weeks after the onset of monsoon in the state (data available till June 16, 2014), sowing has been completed on about 900,000 hectares which is just 12 per cent of the target (7.4 million hectares) for the year as against the normal coverage of close to 1.1 million hectares.

During the same period last year, the sowing was completed on 1.16 million hectares.

The percentage departure of the weekly rainfall from normal during the period from June 11 to June 17 is 36 per cent lower, which is bad compared to the corresponding period last year. The state recorded a 29 mm rainfall during the period as against normal rainfall of 46 mm. Thus, the state as a whole has been classified under the deficit category.

During the same period last year, the state recorded 22 per cent higher rainfall at 55 mm.

During the pre-monsoon period between January and May, the state received a record 171 mm rainfall, about 33 per cent higher than the normal rainfall of 129 mm, according to data available with the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).

The Southwest Monsoon entered the Karnataka coast on June 8, 2014 and thereafter it stagnated for about five days and advanced over a major part of the state, except a few north interior districts like Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkote, Gulbarga and Yadgir.

The monsoon was active with widespread rainfall over the coastal districts while it was weak with scattered to isolated rainfall over the remaining parts of the state.

As on June 16, sowing was above normal in 12 districts, normal in six districts, below normal in four districts and negligible in eight districts.

As on June 16, sowing has been completed over some 508,000 hectares for foodgrains (332,000 hectares under cereals, 176,000 hectares under pulses). The area under oilseeds was 111,000 hectares, while it was 290,000 hectares for cash crops.

Farmers have sown paddy, jowar, ragi, maize and minor millets among cereals and Tur, horsegram, blackgram, greengram, cowpea, Avare and others under pulses.

Farmers have sown paddy, jowar, ragi, maize and minor millets among cereals and tur, horsegram, blackgram, greengram, cowpea, Avare and others under pulses.

Under oilseeds, sowing has been taken up for groundnut, sunflower, castor and soyabean. Cashcrops include cotton, sugarcane and tobacco.

Under horticulture crops, sowing has been taken up for potato (14,915 hectares), onion (12,032 hectares), tomato (9,634 hectares) and chilli (3,266 hectares). Farmers have begun sowing, inter-cultivation, land preparation, nursery bed preparation and transplanting operations. However, sowing operations have begun in some of the important districts and already sown crops are reported to be in the vegetative stage, according to data from agriculture department.