BELAGAVI, June 17 -- Belagavi's agricultural economy is undergoing a realignment as farmers expand sugarcane cultivation, abandon tobacco in growing numbers and increasingly turn to turmeric, whose recent prices have made it one of the district's most profitable commercial crops, according to official aware of the matter.

Officials in the agriculture department, the changes are reshaping cropping patterns across one of Karnataka's largest farming districts, where agriculture is spread over 7.52 lakh hectares. Sugarcane acreage has grown steadily over the past four years, increasing from 2.6 lakh hectares in 2022-23 to 2.8 lakh (280,000) hectares in 2023-24, 2.93 lakh hectares in 2024-25 and 3 lakh (300,000) hectares in 2025-26. Officials...