Widespread pre-monsoon rainfall for the last two days in the Kalaburagi districts has given farmers the kickstart to take up agricultural activities and revive hopes of a good Kharif season. The rain has brought smiles on the faces of farmers in the district as they had completed pre-sowing operations and were waiting for the rain to commence sowing short-duration crops.
The district received 37 mm average rainfall as against the normal 10 mm between June 1 and June 4. Chitapur recorded the highest rainfall of 53.2 mm against the normal 8.7 mm, followed by Kalaburagi with 44.6 mm rainfall against the normal 9 mm. The rainfall recorded in the last 24 hours is 0.3 mm against the normal 3.4 mm.
The Agriculture Department has set a target of producing 38.13 lakh tones of foodgrains in 7.55 lakh hectares of land (including 7,03,230 hectares rain-fed area and 51,900 hectares irrigated area) in Kalaburagi district for the 2020-21 Kharif season.
Sowing of cereals continues with the target of 17,280 hectares with a targeted production of 42,447 tonnes, and the area under pulses has been increased from 6,08,250 hectares to 6,12,250 hectares, with a production target of 6,76,940 tonnes. The sowing target of oilseeds is 39,400 hectares with a production target of 59721 tonnes.
The sowing target for red gram has been set at 5,30,000 hectares and the production target remains the same with 6,09,500 tonnes. The production target for black gram is 23,800 tonnes on a sowing area of 29,800 hectares, while for green gram, the production target is 38,750 tonnes on 49,000 hectares of sowing area.
The area under oilseeds is 39,400 hectares with a production target of 59,721 tonnes. The targeted area for commercial crops remains the same as last year’s 86,200 hectares. The target set for the production of cotton is 4,37,650 bales with a sowing area of 52,200 hectares.