Gujarat farmers see Cyclone Biparjoy a ‘blessing-in-disguise’
tornado pepperjoy It is considered a boon in disguise for the farmers of Gujarat. Over initial fears of a monsoon delay delaying autumn sowing, the state has received more than enough rain over the past four days. This enabled farmers to begin the fall planting of groundnuts and cotton – the main crops of the area.
According to data from the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), Gujarat has so far received an average rainfall of 44.40mm against the season average of 877mm. Total rainfall in eight regions since June 12 It was recorded at 2200 mm.
Also read: No Lives Lost in Cyclone Pebargui: Disaster Response Force Commander
Usually, Gujarat begins kharif sowing by mid-June after the onset of the southwest monsoon. But this year, the onset of monsoons in Kerala has been delayed by a week.
Slow farming
But this year the sowing has been slow with only 2.62 hectares of the area covered as of June 12, 2023 which is 3 percent of the normal sowing of 85.97 hectares. Last year at about the same time, sowing was done on 10.24 thousand hectares. Among the two main crops, groundnut has been recorded at 65,135 hectares (3.66 thousand hectares at the same time last year) and cotton at 1.74 thousand hectares (5.89 thousand hectares) so far.
On the evening of June 15, prof Severe hurricane storm pepperjoy hit the coast of Gujarat near Jakau port in Kutch and swept Saurashtra, Kutch and parts of Gujarat with heavy rains.
In Rajkot district, for example, farmers who had access to irrigation canals or wells grew groundnut and cotton crops. “This has been confined to a few pockets. There is a large rainfed area, so sowing cannot happen yet. The cyclone has brought much needed rain. This has helped farmers in Gujarat to keep their sowing date, which is June 15th. This rain is like Raw gold for them,” said an Agriculture Ministry official.
Timely and useful
Jagadish Patil, a farmer from Morbi district said, “This rain comes at its time. This will help us to maintain the seeding schedule of the cotton crop. I will grow cotton and groundnuts in my field. The only thing we need now is a dry spell after two days. This will be a great boon for us.” .
“The cyclone caused some damage to the horticultural crops of mangoes and dates especially in Kutch district. As for the agricultural crops and the khareef season, the rainfall after the cyclone is very beneficial,” said Vipul Dudhatara, a farmer leader and head of the Gujarat unit of the Bhartiya Kisan Sangh.
Rajkot, Morbi and Kutch were among the eight districts that were in the course of the cyclone.