K'taka: Heavy rainfall, fungal infection damage Toor Dal crop, leave farmers in lurch

Marred by the frequent change in weather and heavy rainfall and outbreak of fungal infection, the Toor Dal (Pigeon pea) crop here offers little hope to the farmers of the district this year. Farmers rued that yield of the crop has been severely affected due to unseasonal weather and excessive rainfall particularly in the month of November.

Umesh Kumar, a local farmer who cultivated Toor Dal in almost 9 acres of his farmland told that the plants are desiccating from the roots and the pulses have turned black.

"I have planted it in 9 acres of land but due to heavy rainfall the crop is almost ruined. It has turned black. Also, there is heavy dew in the morning causing damage to the crop. The plants are desiccating from the roots, the buds are falling and farmers are worried as the yield is expected to be very low this year," said Kumar.

"This time the Toor Dal is affected due to the unseasonal weather. For one week there was full cloudy weather, for another week there was rain and sunlight another week. Most of these variations affect the flowering at the bud formation stage," said Zaheer Ahmed, a scientist at Kalaburagi Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

"Last week, heavy precipitation and dew formation have adversely affected buds at the flowering stage. Farmers told that outbreak of the leaf spot disease and fungal infection is expected to lead to huge loss of the crop," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )