Despite the on-going COVID-19 pandemic agriculture activities, the sowing area, and crop intensity grew this year at high rate compared to last year. Karnataka is one such state which saw an increase in agriculture activities in the state as it received good monsoon rains.
The southwest monsoon that covered the whole state had 327 mm of rainfall against the normal of 314 mm for the period from June 1 to July 15 Thus the monsoon is considered normal, according to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
When the pandemic was prevailing the state government feared whether farmers will go to the field. But the lockdown didn’t stop him from continuing his agriculture activities.
The sowing area target for the present Kharif season is 73 lakh hectares. Now, the coverage of sowing as on July 10 stands at 34.22 lakh ha. During the same period, it was 28.13 lakh ha last year.
In Mysuru the target is 3.95 lakh hectares of which 55 percent of the sowing is completed till now. The main crops in the district are paddy, sugarcane, cotton, black gram, jowar also vegetables, and fruits.
In Hasaan the target of sowing is 2.31 lakh hectares of which 39 percent of the land is covered. While in North Karnataka 90 percent of the sowing has been achieved, all thanks to the stable monsoon.
In Kalaburagi district, 86 percent of sowing has been completed this year against the target. With black gram accounting nearly 32,482 ha and green gram 55,974 ha. In Belagavi district, sowing has been completed on over 6.2 lakh ha out of the targeted 6.8 lakh ha.
In the coastal belt, including Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, the sowing area under paddy is expected to increase marginally.
