Water crisis pushes farmers to switch over to millet cultivation

A majority of them have switched over to millet cultivation

Mandya Karnataka 19_March_2015 : The Agricultural Department says that the farming community is switching to ragi/pulses in Mandya due to fear of water shortage

The fear of water crisis and a possible drought has led to steep decline in farming activities in the district.

The Irrigation Department has been releasing water to canals for the past few weeks on ‘on-and-off basis’ to facilitate cultivation or crops. However, the agricultural activities have not commenced owing to the fear of drought and water shortage.

The Agriculture Department had fixed the target of sowing of crops in 26,350 ha of land, M.N. Rajasulochana, Joint Director, Department of Agriculture, told

The Hindu.

Nevertheless, according to the statistics available with the department, sowing had been completed in 17,409 hectares of land till March 16, which was 66.01 per cent of the targeted area.

The chances of farmers taking up cultivation in the remaining area during this summer were dim as the farmers in a majority of villages had stopped sowing and transplantation of paddy crop, among others, owing to the fear of suffering losses, another official said.

The statistics reveal that paddy transplantation had been was completed in about 12,237 hectares of land against the targeted 20,000 ha. The district is considered the ‘rice bowl of Karnataka’ as farmers cultivate paddy in at least 40,000 hectares, every year.

Meanwhile, it has come to the notice of the department that farmers had switched over to millets and other pulses in the current summer, as these crops would not require much water.

The fear of drought is haunting the farmers. Besides, the farmers were suspecting that the quantity of water that would be supplied this year could be inadequate. Therefore, the farmers had shifted to other crops, Shambhunahalli Suresh, leader of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), said.

The farmers have cultivated millets in 1,959 ha till March 16.

“Millets need only about 20 per cent of the water needed for paddy cultivation. That might have prompted farmers to switch over to millets,” C.R. Ravishankar, Associate Director of Research (Ragi), Zonal Agricultural Research Station (V.C. Farm), Mandya, told The Hindu .