Baburaya Pattan, a small farmer from Suntanur village at Aland taluk, had cultivated onion on one acre during the current kharif season. He borrowed nearly ₹50,000 from his friends, hoping to get a good yield of around 250 bags, which would fetch him around ₹1.5 lakh. But the incessant rains that lashed the region for over 20 days have dashed his dreams. “I was planning to take the harvest to Bengaluru and get ₹2,000 a quintal. I don’t know how to repay the loan now,” Mr. Pattan said, showing his destroyed crop.
Mr. Pattan’s is not an isolated case, as most of the farmers in the village of around 400 families are in the same boat. Suntanur is one of the villages in the region where farmers are heavily dependent on onion cultivation. “Prolonged waterlogging has led to many diseases and abnormal growth in the onion crop. Basal rot, bulb and stem bending, imbalanced and uneven growth, and tip burning are the common problems that the over-moisture has created. The excess rains at the crop-maturity period have inflicted irreversible damage on the crop,” P. Vasudev Naik, a horticulture scientist associated with Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Kalaburagi, told The Hindu.
In a desperate bid to save the standing crop, farmers from across the district have been calling KVK scientists and seeking their advice. “We are receiving more than 200 calls and even more WhatsApp messages with photos from farmers daily. Most of them are related to the damage and diseases excess rains have caused to the crops. After examining the images, we advise them on the action to be taken. Even if the farmers try their best and nature cooperates with them hereafter, there will be a 50% reduction in yield,” Zaheer Ahamed, another farm scientist (plant pathology), said.
According to the scientists, most of the kharif onion cultivated on 1.52 lakh hectares in the State, especially the crop in black soil, is in a similar condition. The crop, which was supposed to be harvested and brought to the market, is still in the soggy fields. This is threatening to create a huge shortfall in production. “The onion fields in the neighbouring Maharashtra and Telangana, from where onion is supplied to the State, are also in a similar condition. It is very likely that onion prices will shortly shoot up as the gap between diminished supply and normal demand widens,” Mr. Naik added.
The rains have also affected the prospects of rabi onion, expected to be cultivated on more than four lakh hectares in the State, by inordinately delaying sowing. “The sowing should have been completed in August and the crop is supposed to have been harvested in January. Now, the rains have pushed the sowing by a couple of months, which means that the harvest will be in February or March next year. The lack of moisture content in the soil and dry weather during maturity time will leave the crop at risk to purple blotch disease, resulting in a fall in yield,” Mr. Ahmed added.
