Drought in 99 taluks, fall in sown area during both Kharif, Rabi seasons prompts agriculture department to cut target.
Drought-hit Karnataka has revised the annual food grain production downwards 15 per cent to 11.5 million tonnes for 2011-12. At the beginning of this year, the department of agriculture had projected the food grain production at 13.5 million tonnes.
At 11.5 million tonnes, Karnataka’s share in the total national production will be around 4.6 per cent. India’s total food grain production for the present year is pegged at 245 million tonnes.
However, compared to last year’s output, the production this year would be lower by about 13 per cent. According to fourth advance estimates the food grain production of the state for 2010-11 was 13.2 million tonnes, an all-time record. For achieving this record, the government of Karnataka was awarded the ‘Krishi Karman’ award by Union agriculture ministry and ICAR for having achieved record production of coarse cereals in the country in 2010-11.
The department of agriculture has scaled down the output for the present fiscal after the government declared drought in 99 taluks spread over 23 districts of the state owing to shortage of rain. Of the 176 taluks in the state, there was deficit rainfall in 55 taluks during June, 70 in July, 17 in August, 33 in September, 55 in October and 41 in November.
For the kharif season, sowing was done on about 6.91 million hectares, about 93 per cent of the targeted area of 7.46 million hectares. About 2.25 million hectares area was affected by the dry spell which is about 45 per cent of the sown rainfed area.
For Rabi season, the area coverage till the end of December 2011 was 2.32 million hectares, about 81 per cent of the targeted area. The department of agriculture had set a target of 2.87 million hectares for sowing under Rabi season this year. Rabi crops are also under moisture stress in some parts. About 560,037 hectares of area has been affected by dry spell across the state.
The average yield has fallen 25-30 per cent due to the drought in rainfed areas during the kharif season across the state. Thanks to Bhoo Chetana programme launched by the department, the yields were higher by an average of 20 per cent in irrigated areas. The programme was taken up in 2.8 million hectares across the state and 2.2 million farmers were benefited.
For the year 2012-13, the department is looking to achieve 13 million tonnes of food grain production. “The target is yet to be officially finalised. The agriculture minister has called for a brainstorming session on January 11 and 12 with the officials of the department,” official sources said.
