Davangere: Deficient rainfall has left areca growers in non-traditional belts of Chitradurga, Davangere and Tumakuru districts struggling to save crops.Areca is grown on 2.91 lakh hectares in the…

Davangere: Deficient rainfall has left areca growers in non-traditional belts of Chitradurga, Davangere and Tumakuru districts struggling to save crops.Areca is grown on 2.91 lakh hectares in these districts, and many farmers are either hiring water tankers to irrigate trees or diverting borewell water meant for other crops to areca plantations.The diversion of the already scarce resource is expected to hit production of paddy, ragi, maize, vegetables and groundnut in the region this year.According to Agriculture Department officials, around 45% land with agricultural crops has remained uncultivated for kharif season in Davangere district.Sowing is yet to be undertaken on 56% of the land in Chitradurga district. The figure is 74% for Tumakuru district , as per the department data till mid-August.B G Dhananjay, a farmer from Nittur in Harihar taluk, told DH that he and his brother owned around 25 acres.Of this land, arecanut is grown on 10 acres, coconut on five acres and remaining 10 acres is for paddy.But this time, paddy is not being grown due to deficient rainfall and non-release of water from Bhadra dam to canals.101 Karnataka taluks declared drought-hit as 2,029 panchayats face water shortageHe said, “Our priority is to irrigate 10-year-old areca plantations as areca fetches remunerative prices in the market. We depend on six borewells for water. I have invested around Rs 6 lakh per acre, including expenses on borewells, fencing and fertilisers over six years. But the yield and income have been low”.Manjunath from Katrikenahalli in Hiriyur taluk of Chitradurga district said, “Of the five acres of land I own, areca trees are planted on three acres and water from three borewells is used to protect the six-year-old trees. So, I am not growing onions and vegetables, including tomatoes, on the other two acres”. He said farmers in Dindavara and Gownahalli villages in Hiriyur taluk are irrigating areca plantations using water from tankers as their fields are situated at an elevation from canals and water cannot flow to the plantations from the canals. Though these villages are close to Vani Vilas Sagar dam, they are unable to use water released from the dam to the canals.Another farmer, Ramesh from Hiriyur taluk, told DH that farmers were prioritising safeguarding long-term crops like areca at the cost of short-term crops like vegetables and groundnut.Sharadamma B C, joint director of horticulture department, Tumakuru district, agreed that farmers were giving priority to protect arecanut trees over other crops.“They are not even growing vegetables, fearing they may face water shortage for areca plantations,” she said.Former chairman of state agriculture price commission T N Prakash Kammardi said deficient rainfall or climate change could cause more harm to areca growers of arid regions than traditional growers in Malnad region.The scant rainfall is expected to reduce crop yield in Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.But it would cause disastrous impact on areca plantations in arid regions.“If there is less rainfall, even borewells go dry and Bhadra dam will not have water to supply for plantations,” he said.

Source: Deccan Herald