Floods wreak havoc on farmland in K’taka

Team Udayavani, Aug 19, 2019, 1:06 PM IST

Bengaluru: Due to incessant rains and floods in the Karnataka agricultural crops on about 7 lakh hectares spread over 22 districts have been washed away

As per the sources, about 7 lakh hectares spread over 22 districts have been washed away due to the flood and this accounts for over a tenth of the sown area of 65 lakh hectares in this kharif season.

Also, thousands of hectares of horticultural and plantation crops have been hit and the damage is yet to be assessed as large tracts remain submerged and are inaccessible.

“The area affected could go up once the water recedes,” said an official in the Karnataka Agriculture Department. Belagavi and Bagalkote districts bore the brunt of the flooding caused by heavy rains in southern Maharashtra, while the traditional coffee and arecanut growing regions in the South were hit by surplus precipitation in early August.

President, Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association, Kurbur Shantakumar estimates that standing crop on over 2 lakh hectares has been lost. This is higher than the government’s preliminary estimates of 1.21 lakh ha. Karnataka is the third-largest producer of sugarcane, with acreage at 4.4 lakh ha, so far, in the current season.

“The State government should immediately provide a minimum relief of ₹1 lakh per acre for the cane growers hit by the floods and waive their outstanding loans completely,” said Shanta Kumar. He also urged the government to bring sugarcane and banana under the ambit of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.