MYSURU: Floods caused by incessant rains in parts of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar have nearly ruined crops in more than 23,000 hectares of land leaving farmers engaged in cultivating vegetables and pulses devastated. According to officials, this may result in a hike in vegetable prices in the coming months.
Farmers who have been cultivating seasonal vegetables like tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum, beans, chillies, brinjal, onion, and bananas have incurred heavy loss due to water logging in their fields. Fungal and pest attack to the crop in the twin districts further worsened their loss.
Farmers have been spraying pesticides against fungal attacks and to curb growth of weeds, but they are not working due to incessant rainfall. Farmers of the twin districts had been cultivating vegetables in both rain-fed and wetland using irrigation pump sets, canals, water, and other facilities in around 23,000 hectares of land, said the sources.
Although the development has not impacted vegetable prices yet, the prices of bananas have skyrocketed as banana planters have incurred heavy losses during rains that lashed the region in last couple of months.
“As growers of the twin districts are major suppliers of vegetables to domestic APMC market, neighbouring Kerala and Tamil Nandu, rain impact on vegetable crops may result in price hike in the coming months,” said Baradanapura Nagaraj, Mysuru APMC vegetable commission agent.
As a cloudy atmosphere has prevailed for the last one week coupled with intermittent drizzling, increase in moisture level, and water logging in the fields, cultivation of vegetable crops in the districts has been hit, said Chandrakala Anagi, senior agriculture scientist at Krishi Vignana Kendra, Haradanahalli in Chamarajanagar.
Speaking to TOI, deputy director of horticulture B T Rudresh said his department has received reports of crop loss in over 230 hectares of land in Mysuru district since last week. The vegetable crop loss may go up as the department is surveying the loss on a daily basis on working days.
“The department will sent the crop loss report to the district administration to release the compensation to farmers under the national disaster relief fund,” he said.
