Bijapur district estimated to have incurred loss to 14,000 hectares of crop in June-July due to rain
Vijayapura: Ninganagouda Biradar, a farmer of Hittinahalli village of the Taluk has cultivated Toor in his 24-acre land. For over a decade now, he has been cultivating this crop during the Kharif season.
Though he incurred loss last year due to scanty rains, this year, he was elated to receive good rains which only propelled his hopes of reaping a good harvest.
But excess rain is now threatening to damage his standing crop as water has stagnated in his farm. “The crop needs rains, but excess rains cause damage to the crop, it would lose strength and become prone to pests”, Biradar said.
Biradar is one of the hundreds of farmers of the district who are worried about their crops as the district has been receiving heavy and continuous rains over the last fortnight.
Bijapur is the second-largest Toor producer in the State after Gulbarga since the climate and soil are ideal for the crop.
Another farmer Siddalinga Gunachari said that he had spent around Rs. 20,000/acre for sowing Toor in his eight acres of land.
He claimed that around 25 percent of the plants have completely damaged and another 40 percent turned yellow because of the excess water in the soil”, he said.
According to the Department of Agriculture, in the present Kharif season, the farmers have sown Toor in around 4 lakh hectares area.
The officials said that the district has recorded 17 percent of excess rainfall this monsoon. Between January and September, a whopping 606 mm rainfall has been received, while the traditional expectation is around 514mm.
Last year, the district had recorded a meager rainfall of 313mm in the same period of time.
The officials admitted that if the rains continue for another week, then the possibility of crop getting further damaged would increase.
“Because of heavy rainfall and waterlogging in the fields, the moisture increases, and plants can't absorb nutrients. This leads to the yellowing of plants or in many situations the plant's wilt. For the survival of plants there is a necessity of immediate sunshine”, the officials said.
With regard to the damage, they said that it’s too early to assess the damage.
“We haven't estimated the crop loss because of continuous rainfall. However, the preliminary reports estimate that due to heavy rain in the month of June and July, around 14,000 hectares of the crop has been damaged in the district. The same report has been submitted to higher authorities", the officials said.
Meanwhile, the farmers who were anxiously waiting for the good rains, are now praying for it to stop.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
