Joint Director of Agriculture K.M. Somasundara has said that three years of drought has brought down the area under agricultural cover in Mysuru district.
He was speaking at a meeting of sugarcane research and development workers in Southern Karnataka here on Friday.
He said as against the availability of 1.54 lakh hectares for agricultural activities, the area under crop cover was only 1.14 lakh hectares and there was a shortfall of 40,000 hectares in terms of coverage.
Mr. Somasundara attributed this to declining availability of water owing to drought and erratic rains since the last three years. Though there were major dams like the KRS and Kabini but because of poor storage water was not reaching the tail-end areas in the command area, he added.
Farmers are aware of the problems and crisis plaguing sugarcane cultivation and hence are abandoning it, said Mr. Somasundara. While 11,500 hectares was under sugarcane last year, it was down to 4,500 hectares this year owing to the prevailing distress. In addition, the area under paddy was also coming down due to non-availability of water, he added.
The official said besides water scarcity, there were other issues such as lack of labour. Hence, to protect the interests of farmers, the Agriculture Department was giving a lot of equipment through customised service centres. This, he said, would promote greater mechanisation and help address labour shortage plaguing agricultural sector.
There was emphasis on micro irrigation and hence the authorities were spreading awareness on drip and sprinkler systems. Last year, the department distributed 11,800 sprinkler sets. It was not for sugarcane but for other crops, including ragi and cotton. More than 100 experts working on sugarcane are attending the two-day meeting with focus on enhancing crop productivity, increasing productivity and sugar recovery besides focussing on soil health.
