Karnataka: Monsoon Retreat Damages Crops, Normal Life Disrupted

Continuous rain as part of the late monsoon retrieval has adversely affected farmers of Karnataka.

With submerged agricultural and horticulture crops, the suffering of farmers seems unending. Standing crops like ginger, tomato, maize, and paddy remained the most affected; breached ponds and small water bodies inundated the agricultural fields in Bagepalli. The villagers witnessed strong river-like currents for a couple of days.

Among suffering farmers, Mahesh Gowda is one of those at the receiving end.

“The water has drowned our entire maize crop and tomato in five acres. Seeing the growth of crops, we anticipated good income this season, but the unseasonal rain drowned all our hope”, Mahesh Gowda told NewsClick while expressing his helplessness.

Rafiullah Khan, a farmer based in Gundalapalli village of Chikkaballapur district, was devastated to see his tomato plantation in water. He cultivated tomatoes on two acres of land.

Damaged Tomatoes. Pic Credit: Basheer Baig

Khan told NewsClick, "Our hope to have a good earning from tomatoes now lies submerged under water. The loss incurred due to rain-induced flood is Rs 30,000 monthly for four months, i.e. Rs 1.20 lakh from an acre of tomato plantation."

A similar plight of Sadanand Gowda of Anekal in Bengaluru Rural district came to the fore. He grew ginger on three acres of land that was destroyed due to heavy and continuous rain in the last seven days.

Nagaraj M, a member of the Vegetable Cultivators Association of Mysuru, told NewsClick, "The continuous spells of rain have brought devastation for vegetable growers as the vegetables are rotting and lying in the submerged agricultural fields."

According to officials in the agriculture department, crops standing on 10.64 lakh hectares have been damaged, including 8.91 lakh hectares of agricultural crops, 1.03 lakh hectares of horticulture crops and 12,014 hectares of plantations.

As per India Meteorological Department (IMD) Bengaluru, for October 20, eight districts, namely Chamrajanagara, Davengere, Mandya, Tumkuru, Mysuru, Kodagu, Hassan, Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru, have been notified with a yellow alert of heavy and thunderstorm.

Bengaluru, on October 18, broke all previous records for the highest annual rainfall. 2022 became the city's wettest year with 1709.1mm of rainfall, said the Bengaluru Meteorological Centre bulletin.

According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), on October 19, four districts witnessed heavy rainfall. Mysuru had 124mm of rainfall, Ramanagara - 123mm, Hassan - 118mm and Mandya - 116mm.

As per a survey of the Department of Agriculture in the Dharwad district, crops in 21,600 hectares of land have been damaged. The loss was estimated to be around Rs 106.74 crore, while horticulture crops in 138.38 hectares, too, have been destroyed.

Muni Raju, an official of the Shivamogga district administration, told NewsClick, "The district witnessed heavy crop loss widespread in 3,270 hectares worth Rs 2.30 crore. Among the crops, maize and paddy were the most affected."

Last month, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced a compensation of Rs 13,600 per hectare to the rainfed area and Rs 25,000 per hectare to the irrigated area.

Revenue Minister R Ashok said compensation of Rs 116.38 crore was to be distributed to 1.04 lakh farmers of the state.

Kabini canal breach at Anagalli and the swollen Udutore, Gundal and Minnattahalli reservoirs worsened the situation in Chamarajanagar, submerging thousands of acres of Agri and horticultural crops.

Parts of Hassan and Kodagu have been receiving heavy rain intermittently.

MOBILITY AFFECTED

Normal life was thrown out of gear due to heavy downpours in Hosapete in the Vijayanagara district.

A two-hour-long rain flooded roads and low-lying residential areas in the town. Motorists had a tough time negotiating the inundated roads.

The Hebbaka tank in Tumkuru filled to its brim and overflowed, affecting the mobility of motorists and bikers.

Few national highways were found waterlogged. NH-48 between Bengaluru-Pune and NH-766 between Mysuru-Ooty were flooded due to heavy rain in the past few days.