Deficient pre-monsoon has hit the State hard and led to a steep decline in the area of sowing, with just about 8% sowing completed as on Thursday. As against the target of 76.69 hectares, sowing has been taken up in only 6.17 lakh hectares.
“In the corresponding period last year, sowing had been taken up in 10.99 lakh hectares, which amounts to about 14.43 %,” Agriculture Minister N.H. Shivashankar Reddy told presspersons here on Friday. While the State receives an average of 1,156 mm of rainfall annually, it should have received 196.9 mm rainfall by Thursday. “However, the State has received 129.90 mm, a shortfall of 34 mm,” he added.
According to Mr. Reddy, of the total 76.69 lakh hectares, 56.57 lakh hectares was rain-fed and 20.12 lakh hectares irrigated. Providing the break-up of sowing, he said so far sowing had been taken up in 2.95 lakh hectares in rain-fed region and 3.22 lakh hectares in irrigated area.
On the monsoon preparedness, the Minister said that despite steep decline in sowing, seed stock has been adequate. “As against the demand of 6.29 lakh quintal, the State has stocked 10.82 lakh quintal. About 36,065 quintals have been so far supplied,” he added. In terms of availability of fertilizers, Mr. Reddy said that the demand for fertilizer in State was about 22.45 lakh tonnes and by June 6.38 lakh tonnes had been supplied. A stock of 7.94 lakh tonnes was available in various districts.
Seed colouring to tell genuine ones
In a first, the Karnataka government is introducing biodegradable polymer colour coated seeds to prevent pilferage and help distinguish between fake and genuine seeds.
The colour coat will have a longer shelf life and prevents pest attack on seeds. The polymer colours are biodegradable. A similar exercise has been taken up in the U.S. and Canada. Already groundnut, soya and sunflower seeds have been coated and is expected to extend it to all seeds next year. Agriculture Minister N.H. Shivashankar Reddy said that GKVK has already tested the biodegradable polymer colour seeds and has not found any adverse effect.
