After a dry spell of around 40 days, which was adversely affecting crops, farmers in the district are smiling again with good rain in the past week giving crops a fresh lease of life.
Toor, which is among the major crops of the district, is sown on over 50% of the cultivable land during the kharif season and was suffering during the dry spell. The recent rain has also helped the revival of crops such as maize, green gram, black gram, and groundnut.
Though some farmers had to remove the withering toor crop at the initial stage itself, officials of the Agriculture Department believe such incidents were minimal. Such farmers have the choice of cultivating contingency crops such as jowar and Bengal gram to cover their losses. “We have received reports of some farmers removing the crop as they were turning dry in the absence of rains, but such cases were sporadic. Such farmers still have time to cultivate other crops, which many have already started doing,” said Manjunath, joint director, Agriculture Department.
He said this year, the department had set a target of 4.3 lakh hectares land. Sowing has been completed on over 95% of the target.
Toor covers 2.67 lakh hectares, making it the largest crop this season, followed by maize (44,000 hectares).
The official, however, said that this year, the targeted area and sowing area have reduced from the previous year. Last year, the targeted area was 5.69 lakh hectares, while toor alone was sown on 3.74 lakh hectares.
Mr. Manjunath also said that with farmers not receiving a good bargain on toor last year, many are going for green gram in the hope that it will provide better returns. Last year, an acre of toor gave an yield of between 5 and 8 quintals, the official said.
He said farmers are hoping for a similar output this year also, apart from a good price in the market.