Karnataka: Rain, price crash leave tur dal farmers in lurch

Kalaburagi: While the Cauvery basin is crying for rain, Hyderabad Karntaka could see its  tur dal production fall drastically this year owing to the heavy rain it received in September.

Kalaburagi,  the “Tur Bowl” of Karnataka is the worst hit followed by Bidar and Yadgir districts, according to a  survey done by the district administrations.
Rain has damaged the tur dal crop over 67,650 hectares of the 3.25 lakh hectares sown in Kalaburagi,which  received 261 mm rainfall in September as against the average rain of 161 mm for the month.

In Bidar rain has destroyed the standing tur crop over 55,496 hectares of the 79,500 hectares sown. Besides the crop loss, the sudden fall in price of tur dal in the market is worrying farmers.

The tur price which had crossed Rs 10,000 per quintal a few months ago, has fallen  to around Rs 5,500 per quintal, and is expected to fall even further once the harvesting begins by the end of November when the fresh crop starts to enter the market. But farmers of  Raichur district have little to complain as their tur crop has survived the rain.

Although seen as the “Cotton bowl” of Karnataka, a large number of farmers in the district switched  to tur dal and other millets in view of their heavy losses over the last  two years.

As against the  43,000 hectares sown with tur last year, 96,000 hectares were devoted to the crop this year in the district. “The September rain helped the crop and we are expecting a very good season this year,” said a senior officer of the Agriculture Department in the district.