• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books
• Gallery

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

T.V. Sivanandan

Gulbarga, Oct. 9 Crops on more than 90,000 hectares in Gulbarga district have been damaged by floods of Karnataka. According to estimates of the district administration, the loss is Rs 89 crore. Farmers, particularly those in the command areas, have no other option but to wait till December to take up the next crop.

“The time for taking up the paddy sowing is over now and we would have to wait till December for taking up sowing of paddy or groundnut,” said Mr Srinivas Reddy in Havinal village in Surpur taluk.

Crops which have suffered extensive damage are red gram, Bengal gram, sunflower, cotton and paddy. While the standing paddy and cotton crops in the command areas suffered heavy loss due to the stagnation of the flood waters, heavy rain and floods damaged the red gram, Bengal gram and sunflower crops.

The crop damage extends to both the command areas of the Bhima and Krishna rivers and the rainfed regions in the district.

Jewargi taluk suffered the highest loss (22,060 hectares) followed by 13,852 hectares in Shahapur, 13,600 hectares in Surpur, 9,899 hectares in Chincholi, 8,235 hectares in Sedam, 7,020 hectares in Gulbarga, 7,355 hectares in Aland, 3,212 hectares in Yadgir, 2,713 hectares in Afsalpur, and 2,218 hectares in Chitapur taluk.

According to the Principal Secretary of the Agriculture Department, Mr E. Venkataiah, in more than 50,000 hectares, red gram had suffered a total loss. If the land-owning farmers burnt their fingers severely due to crop failure, the worst hit were landless agriculture labourers, who were without work for more than a fortnight.

Ms Shankaramma Mallabadi of Vajjal village in Surpur taluk, who is entirely dependent on work in the paddy fields, said that for the past 15 days, there was no work for her. She was eagerly waiting for the floods to recede so that the landowners would provide her employment in the fields.

More Stories on : Cultivation | Karnataka | Natural Calamities

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line