Below-normal rainfall in the last one and a half months since the Kharif season began and no clear signs of rains in the coming days has put the paddy farmers in Adilabad ditrict in distress and worry.
It is not just that only one of the 52 mandals had recorded normal rainfall but also the ground water table has started decreasing and whatever projects that are in the district are now coming down to dead storage levels.
According to sources, agricultural officials have been taking steps to educate the farmers on specific varieties of paddy like ‘Sri’ which can sustain even with minimum water supply. They also expected 48,000 hectares of paddy cultivation in this Kharif. The district experienced severe drought in 2009 and the current position is that the extent of area under paddy is below 2,000 hectares.
Last year, 2.30 lakh acres were cultivated because the rainfall was 92 percent against the normal rainfall. In the district, paddy is the major crop which is raised in the catchment areas of Kaddem, Swarna, Sathnala and Sriram Sagar projects.
The Sriram Sagar project’s full reservoir level is 1,091 feet whereas the present level is 1,067.9 ft after release of 0.7 tmcft of water from the Babli dam which is constructed on Godavari river in Maharashtra. As per Supreme Court orders. Maharashtra government opens 14 gates of the dam from July 1 to October 28 every year.
Under this project right canal (Saraswathi) 35,000 acres of Nirmal, Laxmanchanda, Khanapur, Mamada and Kadem mandals of farmers are cultivated. But in the current year not a single acre has witnessed plantation.
The Kadem project’s full reservoir level is 700 ft and the present level is 680 ft. It has an ayacut of 85,000 acres in Jinnaram, Kadem, Luxettipet, Dandapelly and Mancherial mandals. The Swarna has a full reservoir level of 1,183 ft and the present level is 1,165 ft. Nirmal and Sarangapur mandals have a catchment area of 8,945 acres. Sathnala project’s full reservoir level is 286.5 metres and the present level is 272 metres. This project has an ayacut of 24,000 acres spread over Jainath, Bela and Adilabd mandals.
The Komuram Bheem project’s full reservoir level is 243 metres and the present water level is 236 metres. Rallyvagu, Mathadivagu, Gadennavagu, NTR Sagar and Gollavagu are small projects in the district and have dead storage levels.
Srinivas Reddy, a farmer from Chamanpelly village in Mamada mandal, says that they depend on Saraswathi canal to cultivate paddy and in view of the prevailing drought conditions plantation has not been taken up yet. Last year he raised turmeric in five acres but could not get a remunerative price and landed in debts. This year he expected a good mansoon to cultivate paddy but the delayed monsoon imminent drought dashed his hopes.
A.Rajanna, a farmer in Bela mandal, depends on Sathnala water for irrigation and says that the cotton sown in five acres did not germinate due to the scanty rainfall and he cannot afford to buy cotton seeds for the second time and bought paddy seeds instead to cultivate paddy.
Last year he had cultivated cotton but the heavy rains completely damaged the crop. The villages are also facing severe drinking water crisis, he says. Many farmers have shifted to alternative crops like vegetables but the depleting ground water levels and massive power outages leave them frustrated.
A senior officer of the agriculture department says that the prices of essential commodities increase at regular intervals and may now double amidst the drought conditions.
Source - http://www.newindianexpress.com/
