Karnataka   

Change in cropping pattern threatens fertility of soil

Kembhavi (Gulbarga District): Violation of cropping pattern and indiscriminate use of the water for cultivating paddy in the command areas of the Upper Krishna Project (UKP) are threatening large tracts of black cotton soil, which may lose their fertility permanently.

Despite a ban imposed by the government on the cultivation of high intensity water crops such as paddy, sugarcane and banana in the command area, the area under these crops, particularly paddy, is increasing manifold every year with several farmers switching over to paddy cultivation, more particularly in Surpur, Shahapur and Jewargi taluks of Gulbarga district. A phenomenon noticed in the command areas coming in Bijapur district was the sharp increase in the area under sugarcane.

The State Government, taking into consideration the soil conditions and other factors of the command areas of the UKP, had recommended that command area farmers should grow only semi-dry crops such as groundnut, red gram, sunflower, cotton, maize and other crops.

According to officials in the Irrigation Department, the area under the paddy in the command areas in Gulbarga district was more than 25 per cent and the area under the sugarcane in Bijapur accounted to about 10 per cent.

Initially, the cropping pattern violation was limited to Surpur taluk, but it has spread to Jewargi and Shahapur now and in a couple of years the entire command area in the district is likely to be under paddy cultivation, said a senior official of the Upper Krishna Project.

One of the major problems of cultivating paddy and sugarcane was the fertile land becoming saline and turning unfit for cultivation within a short period.

The salinity sets in fast in black cotton soil owing to its characteristics if water intensity crops are cultivated.

Senior agriculture scientist D.M. Mannur at the University of Agriculture Sciences said that lack of awareness among farmers and the blind belief that paddy is the only crop in the irrigation areas which would fetch them high returns was the reason for the increasing trend of farmers going for paddy.

He said that the farmers in the command areas can earn more than what they were earning by growing paddy without damaging the quality of their fertile lands by taking up conventional crops such as red gram, sunflower and others and adopting protective irrigation pattern through which the yield would more than double.

According to an estimate, more than 35,000 hectares of land in the command area has been affected by the problem of salinity owing to water logging and cropping pattern violation. This, according to irrigation experts, was very high in the irrigation standards.

The farmers appear to have not learnt lessons from what happened to the soil in the Tungabhadra Irrigation Project in Raichur and Bellary, where more than 80,000 hectares ofland in the command area had become saline.

The cropping pattern is violated more blatantly in agriculture lands which have been either purchased or taken on lease by Andhra Pradesh-based farmers, who have introduced their model of agricultural practices in the command areas.

The thatched roofed hut settlements, which is popularly called as “Andhra camps,” which is rampant in Tungabhadra Command area, has become common in UKP command area also.

High rate of water logging, lack of drainage facility in the canals and distributaries and high percentage of seepage was cited by the farmers for taking up e paddy cultivation.

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