More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024

 

By J. Navya Sruthi

 

MUMBAI – The recent heavy rains in Karnataka have hit two-thirds of the kharif onion crop, traders and officials from the state said. There has been damage to other major crops in the state as well, like maize and paddy, due to heavy rains, and has resulted in a delayed harvest, they said.

Of the total of 174,000 acres (1 acre = 0.4 hectares) under onion, rains have caused damage on 120,000 acres across 12 key onion-growing districts in Karnataka, N. M. Siddesh, President, Karnataka State Onion Farmer's Association, told Informist. However, a government official from Vijayanagara district said the damage has been seen on around 100,000 acres in the whole state.   

 

Vijayanagara, Bellary, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Haveri, Chikkamangaluru, Belagavi, Gadag, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Dharwad, and Bidar are the 12 onion growing districts in the state, he said. 

 

Usually, the yield per hectare is around 10,000 kilograms but now due to the rains, yields have fallen to 1,000-1,500 kilograms, the association's president said. He added that each onion farmer had undergone at least INR 70,000 loss. "Heavy rains for almost a month have led to great losses for onion farmers. We urge the government to provide financial aid to farmers," Siddesh said. 

 

Karnataka is the top kharif onion producing state and the state had a target area of 150,000 hectares for the 2024-25 kharif season. "Sowing and growth of onion crop was good till the rains did not start," a taluk level government official from Vijayanagara district said.  

 

The state has been receiving heavy rainfall since Oct. 12, according to local traders. So far since Oct. 1, the state has received 64?ove normal rainfall at 160.6 mm, according to the India Meteorological Department.  

 

The official from Vijayanagara district said major losses are seen in the onion crop, while the damage to the maize crop has been limited despite heavy rains that have just delayed the harvest.

 

According to Shiva Kumar, a local maize trader in Karnataka's Davanagere, there is a 10-15?mage to the maize crop, but there is nothing to panic. "Continuous rains have delayed the harvest of the standing maize, which has now led to fungus on (some of) the crop," Kumar said. However, the production is estimated to be double last year's output, so 10-15?mage is not a problem, he said. According to the state's final kharif sowing data, maize was sown across 1.59 million hectares against 1.61 million hectares a year ago.

 

Maize arrivals at Davanagere market were around 10,000 bags (1 bag = 60 kg) during the beginning of October, but now the arrivals have fallen to as low as 1,000 bags.    

 

However, if arrivals do not increase by next week in local markets, Kumar expects maize prices to rise, but the upside is restricted due to the high moisture content in the grain. Currently, maize with a moisture content of 18-20% is being sold at INR 2,200 per 100 kg, and that with a moisture content range of 25-35% is being sold at INR 1,600 per 100 kg, Kumar said.

 

The official said most crops grown on the banks of the Tungabhadra and Kaveri rivers have also been damaged. "Paddy is the major crop grown in these areas. The crop has fallen to the ground and is in the same position as the onion," the official said. The area sown under paddy this year was 1.02 million hectares against 910,000 hectares a year ago, according to the state acreage report.   End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.