MANGALORE: Though the prediction had been good for the khariff crop after the good rainfall initially, it appears that the district may not achieve the cultivation target.

The target was to cultivate paddy on 35,000 hectares of land. But paddy could be cultivated only on 30,879 hectares, a deficit by 1,000 hectares as against the actual area under coverage during 2005 at 31,882. The district is likely to fall short of by at least 2,000 tonnes of paddy this time.

Sources said in Mangalore taluk alone, the deficit of area under paddy coverage was 15 per cent. The target for Mangalore taluk was 12,700 hectares for 2006, while on July 31, the coverage was 10,760 hectares, which was 85 per cent of the target.

In Buntwal taluk, the target was to cultivate paddy on 9,500 hectares, while the achievement was only 8,760 hectares. In Belthangady taluk, the target was 8,375 hectares, but paddy had been cultivated on 8,072 hectares. In Puttur taluk, the target was to cover 3,940 hectares but only 2,810 hectares had been covered. In Sullia, the land under paddy cultivation was just 485 hectares, sources said.

Experts said with the monsoon weakening over the past few days, farmers might not continue paddy cultivation.

But the rainfall figures contradict the opinions of experts. According to the figures up to August 4, Mangalore taluk received only 56.80 mm of rain (in 2005 it was 131.80 mm for the same period). Buntwal received only 103.60 mm. (283.06 mm), Belthangady 122.60 mm (325.40 mm), Puttur 70 mm. (192 mm.) and Sullia 60.80 mm (131.20 mm).

Farmers said that it would be a poor khariff harvest if the low rainfall trend continued in August also.

According experts, the average rainfall in the district in August should be not less than 800 mm., which has not happened in the past five years. Records show that the last time the district matched that figure was in 1999 when the average rainfall touched 806.20 mm.

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