The State government will decide on declaring drought-hit areas in the State this week after a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee, Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy said on Monday.
One more meeting
“The Cabinet sub-committee headed by the Revenue Minister has already met once and will be meeting again this week. Steps will be taken to declare areas that have received less than normal rainfall as drought-hit after the meeting,” he told the Legislative Council in response to a question from BJP member Hemlatha Naik. He said that since parts of the State had received good rainfall, the government was waiting before declaring drought-hit areas, he added.
He said that Kalyana Karnataka districts had received less than normal rainfall, and that depending on rainfall over the next week, the Cabinet sub-committee will take a decision. “The monsoon was delayed by 10 days. There has been a 36 % deficient rainfall. The sowing has come down by 10 % compared to last year. In some areas, just about 23 % to 25 % sowing has taken place as against 50 % last year,” he said.
Extent of rainfall, sowing
According to data, as against the average 257 mm rainfall by July 7, the State received an average of 166 mm, and in North Karnataka districts as against 124 mm of average rainfall, the region has received 76 mm resulting in a shortfall of 39%.
While a target of cultivating various crops in 82.35 lakh hectares during 2023 has been set, sowing has been completed in 26.82 lakh hectares, which is about 33 %. In North Karnataka, the target for sowing this Khariff season is about 37.67 lakh hectare in rain-fed and 18.54 lakh hectares or irrigated area of which sowing has taken place in 20.6 lakh hectares or 36 % of the target.
