Assessing the Effects of Flood on Crop and Livestock Production in Bagalkot District of Karnataka, India

Aims: India is the second most flood-affected country, trailing behind Bangladesh. Over the past two decades, Karnataka has been subjected to severe flooding. Keeping the above in view, a research initiative to analyze the effect of floods on crop and livestock production was undertaken.

Study Design: Multi stage purposive sampling technique was adopted for the study.

Place and Duration of Study: Bagalkot district of Northern Karnataka was purposively selected for the study.

Methodology: The study is based on primary data collected from 90 respondents belonging to Ghataprabha and Krishna river basins in Mudhol (45) and Jamakhandi (45) taluks.

Results: Analysis of cropping patterns reveals sugarcane as the dominant crop with maize also significant. Floods in 2019 caused substantial crop damage, particularly affecting sugarcane and maize, resulting in significant income losses for farmers. The results indicated that the, during 2019, 78.03 and 21.97 per cent of sugarcane and maize areas were affected by floods with a percentage income reduction of 65.84 and 62.87 percent, respectively. The severity of flood was quite less during 2020 where 76.72 and 23.27 percent of sugarcane and maize areas were affected by floods with 29.47 and 33.24 percent, reduction in income respectively.

Conclusion: Livestock losses were also considerable, with farmers facing economic burdens due to animal deaths and injuries. Soil erosion, predominantly splash and sheet erosion, was prevalent during both years, affecting agricultural productivity. Compensation for losses remained inadequate, highlighting challenges in addressing flood-related damages in the region.