Bengaluru: 70 per cent of crops grown during Kharif set to wither for want of water

Bengaluru: Around 70 per cent of crops grown during the kharif season may start withering soon for want of water in Mysuru, Mandya and Hassan districts. Already, the state government has declared an 'agriculture holiday' this time as they had to preserve the water remaining in four dams in Cauvery basin for drinking water purposes.

The authorities of KRS and Hemavathi dams have categorically stated they would not be releasing water to canals to save the standing crops owing to poor storage in KRS, Kabini, Hemavathi and Harangi as they had received direction from the government to use the remaining water for drinking purposes till June, 2017. Farmers who took up sowing of paddy, maize, millet, jawar and sugarcane due to initial rains, have lost hope of saving their crops.

In Mandya, sowing had been done on 1,27,030 hectares of land as against the target of 2,00,200 hectares. The withering of crops may start in 8-10 days since the supply of water in canals had been stopped. The cost of cultivation of paddy per acre was around Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000. The crop loss may run into several crores in the district.

The situation is no better in Hassan The agriculture department has already estimated 80 per cent crop loss in the district. This time, sowing was done on 2,50,648 hectares as against the target of 2,54,105 hectares.

Mysuru too had been hit hard due to poor storage of water in KRS and Kabini dams. Flow of water in the canal has stopped already and farmers are now looking to the sky for the retreating monsoon.