Gujarat farmers see Cyclone Biparjoy a ‘blessing-in-disguise’

Cyclone Biparjoy is seen as a blessing in disguise for the farmers in Gujarat. Against the initial fears of a late monsoon delaying the kharif sowing, the State has received more-than-sufficient rains during the past four days. This enabled the farmers to kick off the kharif sowing for groundnut and cotton- the main crops for the region.

Per the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) data, Gujarat has so far received average rainfall of 44.40 mm against the season’s average of 877 mm. Total rainfall across eight districts since June 12 was recorded at 2,200 mm.

Also read: No lives lost in Cyclone Biparjoy: Disaster response force chief

Usually, Gujarat starts kharif sowing by mid-June after the onset of South-West monsoon. This year, however, the monsoon onset in Kerala was delayed by a week.

Slow planting

But this year the sowing was slow with only 2.62 lakh hectares of area getting covered till June 12, 2023 which is 3 per cent of the normal sowing of 85.97 lakh hectares. Last year around the same time, the sowing was on 10.24 lakh hectares. Among the two major crops, groundnut area was recorded at 65,135 hectares (3.66 lakh hectares same time last year) and cotton at 1.74 lakh hectares (5.89 lakh hectares) so far.

On the evening of June 15, the severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy hit the Gujarat coast near Jakhau port in Kutch and lashed the regions of Saurashtra, Kutch and parts of Gujarat with widespread rains.

In Rajkot district, for example, farmers having access to canal irrigation or wells did sowing for groundnut and cotton crops. “This was limited to a few pockets. A large area is rainfed, so sowing couldn’t happen till now. The cyclone has brought much-needed rain. This helped farmers in Gujarat to keep their date with sowing, which is June 15. This rain is like raw gold for them,” said an agriculture department official.

Timely and beneficial

Jagadish Patel, a farmer from Morbi district, said, “This rain is timely. This will help us maintain the sowing schedule for the cotton crop. I will sow cotton and groundnut both in my fields. The only thing that we need now is a dry spell after a couple of days. This will be a big boon for us.”

Vipul Dudhatara, a farmer leader and President of the Gujarat Unit of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, said, “The cyclone caused some damage to the horticulture crops of mango and dates particularly in the Kutch district. Whereas for the agricultural crops and kharif season, the rains after the cyclone are very beneficial.”

Rajkot, Morbi and Kutch were among the eight districts that were in the course of the cyclone.

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