The late surge in monsoon in September, in north and south Karnataka regions, is expected to reduce the number of drought-hit taluks to less than 40 in the State in the days to come. As many as 160 taluks were declared drought-hit in the beginning of the monsoon.
Sources in the Revenue Department said, based on the rainfall during June-September, the government is expected to announce a revised list of drought-hit taluks next month (October).
This has also increased acreage under some key kharif crops such as coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds, even though some others like paddy are hit because of failure of early monsoon. Only acreage of minor millets exceeded the target (101%). Paddy was sown on 5.89 lakh hectares, covering 57% of the targeted area (10.4 lakh ha.). This was largely owing to the ban of taking up paddy crop in the Cauvery belt region.
Sowing has been completed in 60.08 lakh hectares, constituting 82% of the targeted area of 73 lakh hectares. A total of 10.57 lakh hectare was affected by the dry spell. The corresponding coverage last year was 69.75 lakh hectares.
The State received 691 mm of rainfall till September 18 against the normal rainfall of 768 mm, a departure of (minus) 10%. The State as a whole received deficient rainfall of 38% in July and picked up in August, which helped to reduce the deficit to 5% and revived farming activities.
Except the coastal belt, all three regions — South Interior Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka, and Malnad — have received excessive rainfall in September. The State received rainfall of 137 mm against the normal 88 mm as on September 18 (plus 56%), according to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre. The coverage was highest in Vijayapura 103% followed by Kalaburagi and Bagalkot (101% each). The acreage was lower in Chamarajanagar (50%) followed by Tumakuru (55%).
