Sowing operations of the kharif season in Kalaburagi district began on a dull note with the farmers completing sowing in about 7 per cent of the targeted area of more than 5.70 lakh hectares.
Sources in the Agriculture Department told The Hindu that monsoon has been weak and the district is yet to get good rainfall to enable the farmers to take up the kharif sowing in full swing. With the weather office predicting a weak monsoon this year, the Agriculture Department would take a call on the developing situation in the fourth week of this month and come out with a contingency plan for farmers in rainfed areas.
Red gram coverage
Sources said that the farmers had completed the sowing of red gram, the main stay of the farmers in Kalaburagi district in 13,313 hectares, out of the targeted area of more than 3.59 lakh hectares.
Sugarcane has been planted in 14,209 hectares, followed by short duration green gram in 4,909 hectares out of the targeted 18,000 hectares. Black gram has been sown in 1,593 hectares out of the targeted 25,500 hectares.
Although the targets for red gram has been downsized to 3.59 lakh hectare this year, due to the shifting of the red gram area to Soyabean and cotton last year, the actual coverage under red gram is likely to be more than the target fixed this year due to the bumper returns with prices touching an all-time high of Rs. 7,500 per quintal this year.
This year, the minimum support price of the red gram has been increased to Rs. 4,225 along with a bonus of Rs. 200 per quintal.
Sources in the Agriculture Department said that the farmers who had shifted to soya bean in red gram-dominated areas like Jewargi and Chitapur taluk were likely to revert to red gram this year.
The farmers who took up soya bean cultivation in these taluks last year suffered heavy losses due to low yield.
