Encouraged by the recent spell of good rain, Karnataka is trying to increase its rabi crop area by introducing “light irrigation method”. Under this, non water-guzzling crops in command areas will be supplied with one or two rounds of irrigation water if required.
This is to ensure some income for farmers in the wake of a large number of them missing out on agricultural operations during kharif season owing to severe drought then.
“Our normal target for rabi sowing is about 33 lakh hectares. But this time, we want to add another 6 lakh to 7 lakh hectares to this from the traditional non-rabi areas in the command zone so that more farmers would benefit,” Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told The Hindu .
According to him, the Agriculture Department would identify farmlands that have been left fallow during the kharif season. These lands would be included under rabi sowing by encouraging farmers to take up agricultural operations through supply of subsidised farm inputs.
The rabi sowing would be taken up during October and November in the State.
The trend of leaving the lands fallow was widespread especially in the Cauvery basin, in this kharif as water from dams was not released for irrigation purposes in the wake of drought. The new initiative was also aimed at creating awareness among farmers that they could earn incomes even by growing non-water guzzling crops. “We want to convince them to look beyond the traditional commercial crops of paddy and sugarcane,” he said.
The rabi crops would mainly comprise rain-fed crops such as pulses like Bengal gram and horse gram, millets like ragi and jowar, besides groundnut. As the storage in most reservoirs is better than that of the previous year, rabi crops could be provided with a couple of rounds of supply of irrigation water if the rains fail again, the Minister said.
The department has already commenced a special campaign to bring fallow land in non-rabi crops under rabi area in the Cauvery basin. The campaign would soon begin in Northern command areas too. The campaign being taken up at the level of village panchayats would also involve innovative farmers.
“In the present scenario marked by climate change, weather vagaries are bound to haunt farm sector. Hence, it is essential for farmers to tackle climate change impact through necessary modifications in crop pattern. The campaign as well as the initiative to expand the rabi sowing area is an effort to prepare farmers to make such modifications in their crop pattern,” the Minister said.
