Delayed monsoon spells trouble for cotton,groundnut farmers

Gujarat has a total cultivation area of nearly 60 lakh hectors each for cotton and groundnut farming.

According to Agriculture Department reports,sowing,mostly for cotton,in around 30 per cent area has already been done.

This process of sowing cotton before rains is called koru (dry). It is usually done some 10 days before the expected arrival of monsoon.

The late monsoon is not only likely to damage the sown cotton crops,but also delay the cultivation cycle of groundnut.

“Monsoon should have arrived by now. But still we can wait for 10 more days,” said N C Patel,Vice-Chancellor,Junagadh Agriculture University. He is of the view that if there is no rain by June 25,the farmers would need a contingency plan,like change in the crop pattern.

Agriculture scientist with the university,K L Dobaria,endorsed Patel’s view,saying,“If it does not rain in the coming days,the farmers will have to cultivate bunch groundnut instead of the running type.

The running crop needs good irrigation.”

The fact that little underground water is available and most of the reservoirs have hit rock bottom has worsened the situation. “There is hardly any water left in wells,and there has been no supply of irrigation water,” said Harshad Patel,a farmer from Ghanteshwar,a village on the outskirts of Rajkot city.