Good rain comes as a respite to the farmers amid the pandemic grief

Bengaluru: The cyclone Tauktae caused havoc in coastal areas of Karnataka, but the rain it outpoured in other parts of the state came as a joy to the farmers. The state had been experiencing insufficient rainfall for the last few weeks and the pre-monsoon rainfall is bringing respite. Manoj Rajan, commissioner of Karnataka Disaster Management Authority said, “When the wider economy is not doing that well, agriculture is probably the only silver lining now. A good pre-monsoon rain followed by a decent monsoon (as predicted by experts) will certainly be good for the sector and the state.”

He added that pre-monsoon rainfall has relaxed the concerns over drinking water as there has been good inflow into the reservoirs.

Officials said that this weather has also led farmers to start the agricultural activities earlier as many of them are dependent on the sector.

“It is the time when farmers are preparing their fields for sowing. Good rain over the last two weeks has promoted them to take up ploughing. Agricultural activities have started in about 2.5 lakh hectares which is also a good sign. This will also boost the upcoming kharif sowing as it helps to cut irrigation and input costs”, said Brijesh Kumar Dikshit, commissioner of agriculture.

The officials of Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) state that most districts of coastal, Malnad, central and north Karnataka have experienced heavy rainfall. Due to this, many streams and tanks have received good inflow, followed by recharge of groundwater. Heavy rain is likely to occur for the upcoming week in parts of the state.

The India Meteorological Department(IMD), in its recent forecast, said that the monsoon would arrive in Karnataka by May 28. The monsoon rain plays a crucial role in agriculture, especially this year after two years of back-to-back large food production.

The agricultural sector witnessed the highest growth in the last two years as rains helped the farmers boost their crops like cereals, sugar cane and paddy. In 2020-21, the state produced 154 lakh tonnes as compared to 141 lakh tonnes in 2019-20. This is an increase of 30 per cent than the state’s average food production of 115 lakh tonnes.

According to the officials, Karnataka had set the target to increase the share of agriculture in the GDSP from 16% to 30% by 2025. This was decided way before Covid-19 hit the country. In 2020-21, the agricultural sector witnessed 6.4% growth, whereas, the industrial and service sector had only 5.1% and 3.1% respectively. Nearly 50-60% of Karnataka’s population is dependent on agriculture and allied activities.