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Heavy rains lash several parts of Karnataka; crop damage reported

Rains in the last couple of days have damaged crops such as ragi, cotton, rabi jowar, maize, tur, sunflower, in North and South Karnataka region. The current spell of unseasonal rain is also affecting the ongoing coffee harvest.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Karnataka including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kodagu, Ramanagara and Chamarajanagar districts on Wednesday.

Bengaluru city recorded 9 mm of rain up to 5.30 pm and HAL airport recorded 4 mm rain. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), most parts of Karnataka are predicted to get rain till January 10.

C S Patil, IMD Director in-charge, Bengaluru, said: “Due to the easterly waves, coastal Karnataka is likely to experience light to moderate rainfall till January 10. North Interior Karnataka will receive isolated rainfall till the 10th. South Interior Karnataka is likely to receive light to moderate scattered rainfall on Thursday as well and light rainfall from January 8 to 10.”
Rains in the last couple of days have damaged crops such as ragi, cotton, rabi jowar, maize, tur, sunflower, in North and South Karnataka region. The current spell of unseasonal rain is also affecting the ongoing coffee harvest.

“There has been some impact of the recent rains on the coffee harvest in areas of Kodagu, Sakleshpur in Hassan and Chikmagalur. This is a season of harvesting coffee and drying it, but due rainfall from the last two days, the berry has started to drop and it has become difficult to dry it. Along with labour crises, the growers are worried of berry droppings due to the rain,” said Kushalappa, a large coffee grower in Madikeri, Kodagu.

Brijesh Kumar Dikshit, Commissioner, Agriculture Department, said that the department is assessing the crop loss from the last two days in the state. “We are collecting the inputs from farmers to assess crop losses incurred due to the rain,” he said.