Tungabhadra dam damage raises alarms for second paddy crop

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Growers of fine rice varieties such as Sona Masoori and RNR in Karnataka fear missing out on taking up the cultivation of second paddy crop this year due to the wastage of water from Tungabhadra Dam after one of its crest gates was washed away last week leading to heavy discharge of water.

The Tungabhadra reservoir near Hospet in the eastern part of the State is a source of irrigation in parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“It is too early to comment as efforts are on to fix a new gate. For the kharif paddy crop there is no problem. However, for the second crop, there could be a problem if the leakage is not fixed and there’s a reduction in water inflow in the coming months,” said Chamras Malipatil, President of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha.

Rice is the main crop in the Tungabhadra command area that comprises districts such as Koppal, Raichur, Ballari and Vijayanagara and farmers grow the non-basmati fine varieties such as Sona Masuri and RNR among others. Kharif is the main cropping season for paddy in the region, while growers in the irrigated area also take up the second crop during December-January period.

Mallikarjun Valkamdinni of Swasthya Farmer Producer Company in Sindhanur taluk of Raichur district said the loss of water stored in Tungabhadra dam could pose a risk to the second crop or the rabi planting season. Also it may lead to the crisis of drinking water supply in the region, he said.

“This will be the third time that the farmers in the region are likely to miss out on the second crop in the past six years, provided the problem is not fixed,” Valkamdinni said. “Over the past five years, farmers could take up the cultivation of second crop only twice and had to be contented with a single crop in three years due to non-availability of enough water,” he said.

Transplantation of paddy has started in the region over the past couple of weeks and farmers are likely to expand the area in the kharif cropping season.

“If we cannot stop water flow in time, the second crop is in risk in Bellary, Koppal and Raichur districts,” said S Chandrasekaran, a trade policy analyst.