The cyclone Tauktae is headed towards Gujarat, according to news sources. This is a very severe cyclonic storm, which is currently centered around 700 km South-Southeast Veraval. This is bad news for Gujarat farmers, as they are anticipating severe damage to ready-to-harvest and to harvested summer crops.
Farmers at the coastal districts of Saurashtra chiefly grow gram, seasame, millet, and groundnut. Farmers are concerned that the cyclone would damage crops of gram (moong), sesame (til), and millet (bajra).
A bumper crop about to be damaged
Gujarat state had undergone an appreciable sowing of summer crop due to high water availability, which happed due to good monsoons last year. There was a sharp jump in the area under sesame seed. The jump was a whopping 315%, from the normal acreage of 31.014 hectares to a staggering 97,799 hectares.
Now, farmers are in despair because they had expected a bumper harvest of sesame and moong and the cyclone is all set to destroy their crops.
Read here the news about bumper crops of sesame and groundnut this year.
Even bajra this time is under a high acreage, from 2,49,406 hectares to a whopping 2,71,353 hectares, which is a jump of 8%.
The cyclone is predicted to intensify as it hits the coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district, as per reports by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
The cyclone can cause heavy rainfall in Gujarat’s coastal areas. Gir Somnath and Junagadh are likely to receive extremely heavy rainfall. A few areas of Saurashtra, Diu, Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Rajkot, Amreli, and Jamnagar.
Cyclones - a part of life in Gujarat
The coastal area of Gujarat often faces cyclones due to the disturbances and the development of pressure points in Arabian Sea.
Good monsoon last year had raised the hopes of farmers of this state. The sowing was good and crops were promising a good harvest too. However, with the severe cyclonic storm headed towards Gujarat, chances are bleak that the crops would withstand the heavy rains lashing on them and the strong winds blowing.
Tauktae cyclone is the fourth one to have developed in the Arabian Sea in the consecutive years during the pre-monsoon period. Since 2018, these cyclones have been categorized as ‘Severe Cyclone.’
In 2019, cyclone Vayu had hit Gujarat.
