Monsoon picks up pace in state

Crop sowing done in 70 per cent of normal area till July 7

Even as the monsoon has picked up pace during the week between July 9 and July 15 with an actual amount of 74 mm of rainfall, about 20 per cent above normal, the state as a whole is classified under deficit category for the present monsoon till from June 1 to July 15.

During the period from June 1 to July 15 the state as a whole recorded an actual amount of 223 mm of rainfall as against the normal rainfall of 330 mm with departure from normal being 32 per cent lower than the normal rainfall.

During the week (July 9 to July 15), the southwest monsoon was active with widespread rains over coastal and Malnad region, while it was weak with scattered to isolated rainfall over interior parts of the state, data compiled by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) showed.

According to the department of agriculture, government of Karnataka, an area of 2.27 million hectares was sown till July 7, 2014, about 70 per cent of the normal area of 3.23 million hectares. Sowing was above normal across seven districts, normal in 15 districts and below normal in eight districts.

Bangalore Urban, Dharwad, Hassan, Kolar, Mandya, Ramanagara, Tumkur districts have reported normal sowing. Bagalkote, Belgaum, Bellary, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagalur, Chitradurga, Gadag, Haveri, Kodagu and Mysore districts have repor-ted between 76 per cent and 100 per cent of the normal sowing. Bangalore Rural, Davanagere, Koppal, Shimoga and Uttara Kannada districts have reported between 51 and 75 per cent sowing. Bijapur, Raichur and Yadgir districts have reported below 25 per cent of the normal sowing till July 7, 2014.

Till July 7, 2014, sowing had been completed, and 805,000 hectares is under cereals, which is about 63 per cent of the normal area of 1.25 million hectares.

Under pulses, sowing was completed across 350,000 hectares, about 51 per cent of the normal coverage of 681,000 hectares. Under oilseeds, the sowing was done on 318,000 hectares, about 48.9 per cent of the normal coverage of 504,000 hectares. Under cash crops, the sowing was completed in 806,000 hectares, about 101 per cent of the normal coverage.

The total sowing for all crops till July 7 stood at 2.27 million hectares, which is 72.47 per cent of the normal coverage of 3.23 million hectares. Sowing has been completed for rice, jowar, ragi, maize, bajra and minor millets under cereals. Under pulses, sowing has been taken up for tur, horsegram, blackgram, greengram, cowpea, avare and others.

Under oilseeds, sowing has been taken up for groundnut, sesamum, sunflower, castor, Niger, mustard and soyabean. Cotton, sugarcane and tobacco sowing have been more than the normal coverage.

For horticulture crops, sowing had been completed only on 23 per cent of the targetted area. Out of the targeted area of 37,958 hectares, sowing was done on 8,674 hectares.

In major potato, onion, tomato and chilli crop-growing districts, sowing, inter-cultivation, land preparation, nursery bed preparation and transplanting operations are under progress.

However, sowing operations have started in some of the important growing districts. Already, sown crops are reported to be in vegetative stage.