Gujarat: Cyclone Vayu boon for farmers

AHMEDABAD: Cyclone Vayu, which skirted past the Gujarat coastline, has turned out to be a boon for farmers in parched Saurashtra. While heavy rain has replenished water bodies across seven districts of the region, farmers have also used the spell of rain to expedite sowing of kharif crops.

With the Met department forecasting widespread rainfall in Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat on Monday and Tuesday as a result of the deep depression in the Arabian Sea, sowing in parts of North Gujarat and Saurashtra is expected to receive a further impetus.
Karsan Odedara, who stays in Kodinar taukar of Gir-Somnath district, has already completed groundnut sowing on two bighas of land. “I had sowed a summer crop, but harvested it when news of the cyclone first spread. I ploughed and watered the field immediately and completed groundnut sowing. “Sprouting of the seeds will take place in five or six days and I will also get the earlybird price advantage, as my crop will be one of the earliest to be harvested,” he said.
Kiran Patel, a farmer of Chhiti village of Keshod taluka of Junagadh district says he did not sow any summer crops because of shortage of water. “When there were adequate indications of rainfall, I ploughed the field and kept it ready. Now that my field has received one good spell of rain, I will sow cotton over the two hectares of land that I have already ploughed,” he said.
On Friday, 17 talukas of six districts – Junagadh, Rajkot, Gir-Somnath, Porbandar, Jamnagar and Amreli – received between 2mm and 104mm rainfall even as the effects of cyclone Vayu began to diminish. Rains lashed several parts of coastal Saurashtra on Thursday as well.
A top official of the state agriculture department said, “Feedback from district agriculture officers suggests that the spell of rain will be useful for farmers in Bhavnagar, Gir-Somnath, Porbandar and Junagadh districts. The rain received in these districts is conducive for sowing. One or two days of bright sunshine will create favourable conditions for groundnut and cotton sowing. Hopefully, monsoon should arrive by the month end.”
Retired bureaucrat and agriculture expert Abhay Raval says although the rainfall is not spread across Saurashtra and has been confined only to coastal areas, it is an encouraging indicator of increased sowing of kharif crops. “A couple of rivers have also experienced floods, which means several check dams also will be full. The presence of adequate moisture in the soil will encourage sowing and possibly sustain saplings until the next round of monsoon activity,” he said. Raval added that while monsoon normally hits Gujarat only after the first fortnight of June, rainfall in most parts of coastal Saurashtra before June 15 will definitely increase kharif sowing.
Although kharif crop sowing will continue until August, state agriculture department figures show reasonable sowing that has already happened. With the spell of rainfall, sowing figures will further increase, experts feel.