Bulletin No.9/2012

August 7, 2012

Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture

Hyderabad

Status of monsoon and contingency plans for deficit/excess areas of the country

During the last four days monsoon, was active with heavy rains occurring in Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, East Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. There is a steady improvement in the rainfall situation in Madhya Maharashtra easing the drought situation on standing crops.  All regions of Karnataka are also receiving scattered and isolated rainfall which is providing lifesaving moisture for the standing crops.  Uttarkhand and Jammu & Kashmir have also received good rains in the last 24 hrs.

However, the entire North-West comprising of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab continued to remain under prolonged drought affecting the standing crops and delaying the planting in the uncovered area.  Considering the above situation, the following contingency plan is suggested for different deficit regions. 

Karnataka

From 1^st June to 6^th August 2012, state as a whole received 334 mm rainfall against the normal of 522 mm with a deficit of -35.7%.  North Karnataka has received better rainfall while most districts in South are under prolonged drought. Gadag, Dharwad, Bellary and Koppal are the worst affected districts in the north and central part.  More than 60% of the area has been covered in this zone. 

• In all the areas/districts where adequate rains have been received, bajra, maize and sunflower may be sown at wide spacing (120-135 cm) after seed hardening (soaking in calcium chloride solution before sowing).
• Horse gram, moth bean, cowpea and vegetable crops like onion, cucumber and ridge gourd can also be sown in traditional areas.
• In view of insufficient moisture in the soil, only 50% of the recommended chemical fertilizers are to be applied at the time of sowing.

South interior Karnataka has received less rainfall and several districts are under prolonged dry spell.   The worst affected are: Hassan, Tumkur, Chamrajnagar, Haveri and Belgaum etc.

• In this region, only 9.40 lakh ha of area was sown against the normal sown area of 14.24 lakh ha.
• During August, short duration finger millet varieties (Indaf-5, Indaf-9 and GPU-28) may be sown as soon as rainfall revives.
• Fodder maize (Deccan 103) and sunflower (Morden, BSH-1) are recommended in all the traditional groundnut growing areas.
• In tank fed areas, aerobic rice cultivars (MAS-946-1, Rasi and KRH-2) may be sown whenever the tanks are completely full and medium duration red gram varieties (BRG-1, BRG-2) can be cultivated for vegetable purpose, if adequate rainfall is received.

Maharashtra

The drought condition in Maharashtra has considerably eased during the last four days particularly in Madhya Maharashtra.  However, Marathwada region is now experiencing dry spell but the standing crops are in good condition due to better soil depth in the region.  The crop condition in Vidarbha is excellent.

Vidarbha

• In areas not sown so far, sole crops like pearl millet (PKV Raj, Shradha, Saburi), sesame (AKT-64), castor (AKC-1, GCH-4, 5, 6 and DCH-117) and pigeonpea (AKT-8811, Vipula, PKV Tara and BSMR-736) can be till 15^th August.
• The intercropping of pearl millet + pigeonpea (2:1 or 4:2) can be taken up till 15^th August.
• In standing crops undertake intercultural / weeding and top dressing of N fertilizer, wherever necessary.

Madhya Maharashtra

·         In medium deep to deep black soils of Solapur region, sowing of sole crops like sunflower (Bhanu, Phule, Raviraj), castor, horsegram, pearl millet (shradha, Saburi, Shanti) can be sown if immediate rains of sufficient quantity are received.

·         In this region, if less than 45 days old seedling of pigeonpea are available, farmers are advised to transplant pigeonpea as a sole crop or as intercrop with sunflower + pigeonpea (2:1) or mixed crop of castor + ridge gourd. Farmers are further advised to sow giant bajra or sorghum (Phule ruchira, Phule amrutha) as fodder crops.

·         In shallow black / red soils of Sangli region pearl millet (Shanti, Shradha, Saburi) and in deep black soils either sole crop of sunflower (Bhanu, SS-56) or sunflower + pigeonpea (Vipula or BDN-708) in 2:1 ratio are suggested.

·         In Kolhapur region of Madhya Maharashtra, in medium deep black soils sowing of fodder maize (African tall, Panchganga, Gangasafed-2, Vijay, Local) are recommend for sowing.

 Marathwada

·         In standing crops interculture, weeding and hoeing operations are to be taken up to conserve moisture.  Top dressing is recommended only where there is a sufficient moisture.

·         In the unsown areas of the region, sowing of sole crops like pigeonpea, hybrid bajra, sunflower, castor and seseme and intercrops viz., castor + pigeonpea, castor + coriander etc., can be taken up once the rainfall revives.

Rajasthan

The state as a whole received about 51% deficit rainfall till date. The western Rajasthan and eastern Rajasthan received deficit rainfall of -69% and -42%, respectively till date. Last week few parts of eastern Rajasthan received moderate to heavy rainfall while southeastern and western parts of Rajasthan experienced dry weather.

·         In the areas with light or inadequate rainfall, hoeing and weeding operations and using weeds as mulch should be done to conserve soil moisture.

·         If the maize crop is of around 20-25 days old, ridging in crop is recommended.

·         In standing maize and sorghum crops experiencing inadequate soil moisture due to long dry spells in south Rajasthan spray of 1000 ppm thiourea or 5% kaolin to maize and sorghum crops is suggested.

·         In western and eastern parts of Rajasthan, farmers are advised to sow short duration varieties of bajra (HHB-67), moth (RMO-40, RMO-225) and fodder crop (bajra) if rainfall occurs up to 15^th August.

Gujarat

 The state as a whole is under severe drought condition and only 62% of the area was sown.  In North Gujarat, Patan and Kutch districts are the worst affected.  In this region, the normal crops of pearlmillet and pulses can not be sown now and only castor is recommended.  In Saurashtra and Kutch, immediate weeding and interculture operations are recommended in standing crops to save moisture.  Mulching with available biomass can save the standing cotton crop.  Need based live saving irrigation where possible. In Saurashtra region, sowing of groundnut and pearl millet may be avoided. Instead greengram (GM-4, K-851), sesame (Purva-1, GT-3 and GT-4), castor (GAUCH-1, GCH-4 and GCH-7) and fodder sorghum (GFS-4, S-1049 and Gundari) may be taken up 15^th August.

Haryana

In Haryana, scanty rainfall conditions (-73%) are still prevailing.

·         In the standing cotton crop, farmers are advised to do intercultural operations, furrow irrigation followed by straw mulching for conserving soil moisture.

·         After the receipt of sufficient rain, short duration varieties of bajra (HHB-67, HHB-216 and 226) and moong bean (Satya, Asha and Muskan) may be sown up to the end of first week of August.

·         Short duration Basmati rice may be directly seed with 10-15% higher seed rate after seed soaking.

Punjab

In Punjab rainfall during the season so far is deficit by 66%. In the last two days isolated rainfall has occurred in some parts of Punjab.

·         Under rainfed conditions, sowing of fodder, pearl millet varieties (PHBF-1, PCB-164 and FBC-16) can be taken up to August end.

·         Under irrigated conditions, maize variety J-1006 can be sown up to middle of September.

·         To save irrigation water in standing rice and basmati rice crops, irrigation can be advised two days after complete evaporation of ponded water.

Kerala

            For the first time in many years, Kerala has experienced extreme deficit rainfall for June and July with the cumulative deficit reaching -40% by the end of July.  Most of the rice fields are under stress as the southern districts are experiencing more deficit.  Pepper and cardamum crops are likely to be affected due to prevailing drought.  Moisture conservation practices like basin mulching may be adopted to minimize the loss.   The hydro power generation is highly affected in Kerala putting the irrigated area under risk and potential negative impact on rabi crops.

Other States

The rainfall situation in other states is comparatively normal. However, some districts recorded deficit rainfall and for those districts contingency plans are made available in the websites of the Ministry of Agriculture (www.agricoop.nic.in), ICAR (www.icar.org.in) and CRIDA (www.crida.in). The respective KVKs also may be contacted for needful advice.  For general farm operations to be taken up during this period, the regular agro-advisories issued by all the Agricultural Universities in their websites and other channels may be followed.

Availability of quality seeds

            The availability of quality seed of different varieties recommended for contingency planning is provided below: