Till about a month-and-a-half ago, the prediction was made that the district would record a bumper toor crop, in the hope of good rain.
The lush toor crop sown across the district was promising and had kindled hopes among the farmers of making a good profit.
But, now neither the crop nor the hopes are alive after the district registered a dry spell for over forty days.
“Looking at the persisting dry condition, the government has declared all five taluks of the district drought-hit with a substantial portion of toor, the major crop of the district, withering away,” said the officials of Agriculture Department.
While the total targeted area was 4.52 lakh hectares, sowing had taken place on 5.97 lakh hectares in the district.
Toor was cultivated on 3.76 lakh hectares, which is the highest among all crops sown in kharif season. But with a 26 per cent deficit in rainfall, 33 per cent of the crop has already withered away. “Even if the district receives rain now, it will be of no use as the right time for the rain has already passed. However the same rain may bring some relief for the coming rabi season,” the officials said.
They said that the dry spell took away moisture which was essential for the crop to stand for higher yield.
“Earlier, we projected five to eight quintals of toor each hectare and it has now come down to around 1.5 to 3 quintals only. This is indeed a considerable loss for farmers, mainly those who do not have irrigation facility,” the officials said.
The department already has estimated a loss of around Rs. 720 crore and anticipates more loss in coming days as the dry spell is going to continue.
The officials said that they have submitted a proposal seeking Rs. 215 crore from the government for providing relief to the farmers.
