40% kharif sowing completed in Yadgir district

The Hindu

4 days ago

After three weeks of south-west monsoon and a good spell of rainfall before that, farmers, who had already prepared land in the district, have begun sowing. And, 40% sowing has been recorded till the start of this week.
According to data provided by the Agriculture Department, Yadgir district has recorded 40.77% sowing. The department has set a target of 4,16,474 hectares for 2025-26 and of this, so far, 1,69,181 hectares, which is 40.77%., has been brought under cultivation.
Farmers prefer green gram, red gram, cotton and paddy, which is widely covered in the irrigated area under the Upper Krishna Project network, more particularly in Hunsagi and some parts of Shahapur and Shorapur taluks, for the kharif season.
Green gram has been sown in 11,587 hectares (76.58%) against the targeted area of 15,000 hectares.
Red gram has been sown in 36,342 hectares (36.90%) and cotton has been taken up in 1,20,785 hectares (64.94%) against a targeted area of 1,85,999 hectares.
Meanwhile, paddy is set to be taken up in 1,07,856 hectares with sowing yet to start.
The taluk-wise sowing target and actual sowing in brackets are as follows: Shahapur 75,627 hectares (23,610 hectares), Wadagera 57,284 hectares (20,075 hectares), Shorapur 94,952 hectares (28,569 hectares), Hunsagi 66,134 hectares (19,682 hectares), Yadgir 69,505 hectares (42,979 hectares) and Gurmitkal 52,968 hectares (34,795 hectares).
The highest sowing of 65.54% has been recorded in Gurmitkal taluk while the lowest of 30.03% is in Hunsagi taluk, which has a largely irrigated area where farmers choose paddy.
'Farmers can sow crops, except green gram, till the end of July. We hope that more than 90% of the area out of the target set will be covered in the rest of the period,' Joint Director of the Agriculture Department Ratendranath Sugur told The Hindu over phone.
The district has experienced scattered rainfall since sowing started in this season. And, there has been a dry spell even as cloudy atmosphere prevails across the district.
At present, crops, mainly green gram, which is considered a short-term cash crop, are almost 10-15 days old. So, farmers have started tilling to remove weeds between rows of crops to help them grow elegantly.
'Even if not immediately, crops will require rainwater in the next couple of days as the soil is slowly getting dry after tilling,' Mahadevappa, a farmer who was tilling in his green gram field, said.
Many farmers have said that the district has received good rainfall, even above normal figures, before the onset of the monsoon itself. 'More importantly, crops will now give good yield if they get the required rainfall and fertilisers,' another farmer Basavaraj Patil has said.