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Members of the Central drought assessment team interacting with farmers in Nesargi village in Belagavi district on Friday.
| Photo Credit: P.K. BADIGER
Farmers poured out their woes before the Central drought inspection team that went around villages in Belagavi district on Friday. Nagappa Habi a farmer in Nesargi said that most of his Soya crop was destroyed.
Raju Hongal and Basappa Kuntigeri said they had suffered huge losses in their carrot crop. Mr Kuntigeri said that he had spent over ₹1 lakh for the two acre crop. “I have spent over ₹25,000 per acre for seeds and fertilisers. Now, all the crop is lost and I have no way to recover the money,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil told the team that farmers had sown carrots on 295 acres in Nesargi and surrounding areas. They were suffering as most of the crop was lost, he said.
Meerappa Hukkeri told the team that his 12 acre soya crop had suffered serious damage. “I was expecting a yield of 10-12 quintal yield per acre. But due to scarce rainfall, there is no yield,” Kamalavva Nadahatti, a farm woman, explained.
Veerabhadrappa Hosmani of Chachadi village said his sunflower crop on one and a half acres had been damaged. “I have spent at least ₹20,000 by taking loans. But now I can not repay it,” he said.
Ajit Kumar Sahu, head of the team, examined the crops closely and asked farmers questions about cost of cultivation, crop insurance, and cost of seeds, fertilisers and labour fares. The team visited Kalakuppi, Halaki, Budigoppa, Yaraganavi, Ramdurg, Chandargi, Budanur, Salahalli and other villages.
Earlier, a team of district administration officials led by Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil explained the situation to the team, using pictures, videos and graphs. He said that crops on around 2.78 lakh hectares had been damaged.
The State government had declared a drought in 13 of the 15 taluks of Belagavi district, as there was scarce rainfall in the sowing season. There was nearly zero rainfall in June and the first three weeks of July. Sowing began in the last week of July after some rainfall. The government declared a drought after rainfall scarcity in August. He also spoke of drinking water scarcity, fodder scarcity and the mitigation measures being taken up.
Y.S. Patil, Commissioner, Agriculture, said the district administration had supplied drinking water to some villages through tankers.
ZP CEO Harshal Boyer, SP Bhimashankar Guled, Additional DC Vijaykumar Honkeri, Assistant Commissioner Shravan Naik, Joint Director of Agriculture Shivanagouda Patil, Deputy Director of Agriculture H.D. Kolekar, Deputy Director of Horticulture Mahantesh Murgod, Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry Rajiv Koler and others were present.
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