The widespread recent spell of pre-monsoon showers in the district and predictions by the IMD of normal monsoon has brought smiles for paddy growers. Paddy is cultivated in 1.07 lakh hectares in the kharif season in the district. Owing to poor rain in the past two years, there was a decline in the area of cultivation of paddy during the kharif season. In 2016, paddy was cultivated on 91,659 hectares and in 2017, it was under 77,000 hectares. Farmers in the command area of the Bhadra reservoir had not received water for cultivation of paddy in 2017.