Vijayapura: The continuous rains the District has been receiving since three days has given much needed respite to the farmers who have already completed sowing in their farms and waiting for early showers.
According to the Officials of the Agriculture Department, around 50 percent of the farmers had completed sowing and were eagerly waiting for the rains to help the germination and good crop.
Rajshekhar William, Joint Director, Agriculture Department said that the Department had set the target of Toor sowing on 525043 hectare, however the sowing was done on only 251263 hectare land.
“Now, the three days of rain will help the crop and the soil will store enough moisture required for the crop. The rain will not only help the present crop, it will also enable other farmers to speed up the sowing as they have the time till July 20 to sow seeds of Toor,” he said.
He said that though the farmers still have time to take up Toor cultivation, he added that the farmers who have fertile soil such as black or deep black soil, may preserve the moisture for Rabi season. Since the farmers are switching gradually to other crops such as sunflower and cotton, some farmers may not cultivate Toor now.
As the demand for oilseeds is increasing in the country after the prices of cooking increased and the Government is importing edible oil, the Government is encouraging the farmers to cultivate more oil seeds.
“The farmers are getting good prices for sunflower seeds which are a three-month crop compared to Toor which is a six-month crop. Toor and sunflower produce almost the same quantity from each acre of land which is around 6 quintals per acre. Even the price of the crop is nearly around Rs. 6,000/quintal in the market. Considering this, the farmers are now going for sunflower”, he said. William said that due to this factor, the sowing area and production of Toor would get reduced by at least 20 percent compared to last year in the District.
