Vijayapura: Abdul Jabbar Inmadar, the farmer of Utnal village in Vijayapura taluk is anxious and worried because of the inordinate delay in receiving rains.
He has already prepared his five acre land to sow Toor or Cotton for Kharif season. But due to delayed monsoon, Inamdar is unable to take up sowing.
“ How can we start sowing when the soil has no moisture? The seed will never germinate without adequate moisture”, he said.
Inamdar is one of the innumerable farmers of the district who are eagerly waiting and fervently praying for the rains to hit early to start sowing operations.
“ Normally, by this time, we would have completed the sowing if the monsoon had hit the district. But in the absence of monsoon, the farmers have only kept the farm ready in hope of rains”, said another farmer Gulappa Hugar.
The farmers said that the sowing for the Kharif season will be adversely affected if the district fails to receive rains within a week.
L. Rupa, the Joint Director of Agriculture Department said that the district should receive 85 mm average rains in June. Till June 10, the district should receive 33 mm rains, but it has received only 10 mm rains.
With the monsoon not hitting the district even till the middle of June, the officials said that the sowing and the production of grains could experience loss.
The sowing period for Dicot crops such as Green Gram and Urad is already over in the district. The farmers fear that if the monsoon delays further, other Kharif crops would meet the same fate.
The officials said that the district did not receive adequate pre-monsoon showers which would normally help the farmers to prepare for sowing.
The district received only sporadic and scanty pre-monsoon rains. Following which, with the hope that the district would get timely monsoon, a few farmers completed sowing in their farms.
But, they fear that the seeds will not germinate or the crop will not have expected yield due to inadequate moisture.
The Department of Agriculture has set the target of 7.36 lakh hectare sowing area for the Kharif season. By the end of June first week, the district should have completed sowing of crops such as Green Gram and Urad on at least 3,000 hectare land.
Vijayapura, which is the second largest Toor cultivating district in the State after Kalaburagi, has set the target of cultivating Toor on 4 lakh hectare land for the present Kharif season.
Even the Toor sowing period will pass if the district fails to receive copious rains the next couple of weeks.
“ If we don’t get rains now, the Kharif season will almost get washed away and the farmers will have to wait only for Rabi season for sowing”, Inamdar said.
Due to deficit rains, even the cash crop such as Sugarcane is gradually drying up as the borewells are not yielding enough water.
