Mysuru: With eight taluks of Mysuru district declared drought-hit owing to scanty rainfall during the kharif season, the department of animal husbandry and veterinary sciences has stocked enough fodder to meet livestock requirements for the next six months, officials said.Speaking to TOI, deputy director of animal husbandry and veterinary sciences Siddaramu said the department had already stocked enough fodder for the next 37 weeks and restricted interstate fodder transportation. It has also written to its commissionerate seeking the supply of 186 tonnes of fodder seeds for distribution among farmers in the eight taluks during the rabi season beginning in Oct.He said he had submitted a proposal to higher authorities to open 26 fodder banks and a goshala in every taluk after identifying sites in prominent hobli headquarters.“Farmers who have not stocked enough fodder can leave their livestock in a goshala once it opens in the district,” he said.Mysuru district has a livestock population of nearly 9.5 lakh. According to official estimates, sowing was completed on only 56% of the targeted 3.8 lakh hectares this year.The agriculture department has estimated crop loss in 1,43,408 lakh hectares during the pre-kharif and post-kharif seasons and recommended release of Rs 122 crore as compensation to affected farmers under NDRF guidelines.Farmers are struggling to arrange fodder because of drought, pest attacks in maize, reduced paddy cultivation, and shrinking fodder sources. The drop in water levels in KRS and Kabini reservoirs after water was released to Tamil Nadu has compounded the problem, as lakes were not replenished.To ease the shortage, Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has distributed fodder seeds to milk producers across Mysuru district. KMF expects production of 4.8 lakh metric tonnes of green fodder, which could help farmers stock enough fodder for milking cattle for the next six months.Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha district vice-president Attahalli Devaraj urged the state govt to open fodder banks and goshalas, saying farmers were already struggling to arrange fodder.“The fodder problem will worsen once the rainy season ends this year in the first week of Dec,” he said.
