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End of Khariff season-Disasterous?
Mandya farmers despair and abandon paddy
Mandya: In the current year, monsoon is not only delayed across the state but also is lacking in volumes, which has caused water levels in reservoirs recording a low for the last ten years. In this background, most of the farmers in the Cauvery basin have given up paddy cultivation due to the fear that the water in the reservoirs will not be enough for the crop.
Farmers of Malavalli and Maddur in Mandya district depend on Visvesvaraya canal and feeder canals. Farmers in Talakadu area of T.Narsipur and some parts of Kollegala depend on water from Kabini Reservoir. As the water level in the reservoirs and canals is decreasing, they have abandoned agriculture without sowing the monsoon crop. Chief Minister S Siddaramiah has also maintained that the state has just above 55 TMC of water out of which 30 TMC must be given to farm sector followed by domestic and industries.
Farming activities picked up when the KRS reservoir water level rose to 113 feet in late July and the Kabini reservoir rose to 2,282 feet. The Irrigation Advisory Committee had promised to release water for 15 days a month in the KRS and Kabini reservoir areas for growing semi-crops. But as the government released 25 tmc feet of water to Tamil Nadu on the directives of the Cauvery Water Management Authority, the water level of the KRS reservoir dropped to 97.38 feet and the water level of the Kabini reservoir dropped to 2276.25 feet.“In Malavalli and Maddur taluks of Mandya district, paddy cultivation and other crops have been hit. "However, paddy planting has been undertaken in some parts that depend on water from lakes and irrigation pumpsets," said Borey Gowda leader of the farmer community.
“The Talakadu region, famous for paddy cultivation, has been damaged and most of the farmers are panicked fearing that they will not get enough water for the crop. Some farmers tried to grow pulses and sowed them. But due to lack of rain, we did not get a good yield,” the farmers expressed their sadness.
While many looked to the sky to save their crops in Sisale, Mooguru and some parts of Kollegala taluk, sugarcane crops that were left without enough water from feeder canals were also badly damaged.
