The hopes of farmers to reap a good harvest during this Kharif appear to be vanishing fast in almost all the districts of Telangana. Though the intermittent rain in Adilabad district during past three days revived the hopes of the farmers a little bit, in districts like Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda the situation is still grim.
In Warangal, the ground water levels have fallen from 9.31 mbgl (metres below ground level) in July 2014 to 10.04 mbgl by end of July 2015. The shallowest water level is recorded in Khanapur mandal of Mahbubabad division with 2.26 mbgl. According to agriculture officer V Bhaskar, “If it does not rain before August 10, the farmers are in for huge loss.”
There is every possibility that the entire maize crop could be lost and cotton crop will suffer from low yield. If it rains before August 10 the farmers will get some reprieve. He said if it did not rain then the farmers would have to go in for alternative crops. Crops in Bachannapet, Cherial, Devaruppala, Raghunathpalli, Nar- meta, Station Ghanpur and Dharmasagar mandals can be considered a total washout, the officials feel.
District Revenue officer K Shobha said, “Normally the administration waits till the end of September to declare a region drought-affected. We will wait for another fortnight before preparing a report on the prevailing dry spell,” she said. In Khammam though the agricultural operations began on an enthusiastic note and crops like paddy, cotton, maize and chilli were sown, the situation now appears to be gloomy.
Rajaiah, farmer of Yedulapuram of Khammam (rural) who owns 5 acres of land told The Hans India that he had taken up cultivation of paddy only in two acres and that too for self consumption. “The rainfall has been erratic and I don’t want to take the risk. The government is also not giving assurance about waiving of loans,” he said.
The other factors that are adding to the agri crisis in the district are non-availability of seeds, no waiving of loans, water scarcity and erratic power supply. Agricultural Officer Ramesh said, “The Agriculture department was ready with a contingency plan to support alternative crops in the rain-fed areas like Konijerla, Kusumanchi, Raghunathapalli and others.
Just in the nick of time, intermittent showers during the last three days rekindled the hopes—albeit to some extent—of farmers in Adilabad district. Had it not occurred, it would have been a total disaster for the farmers who took up cultivation on a joyous note soon after the Southwest monsoon was active in the region in the third week of June.
Cotton is predominantly cultivated in the district. As a result, the area under cotton is 3.13 lakh hectares out of total area of 5.76 lakh hectares. Similarly, soya bean cultivation has been taken up in 92,000 hectares. Not many people dared to cultivate paddy in more than 3,412 hectares due to the prevailing dry conditions.
With no favourable conditions after sowing operations were completed, the crops started to show the symptoms of moisture stress. Even though the cotton is a drought-resistant crop, the absence of soil moisture can restrict its nutrient intake capability and the transportation of nutrients.
With no significant water levels in SRSP, Kadem, Sadarmath, Swarna and other projects and the depletion of groundwater levels in the region, the situation appears to be precarious for the farmers. Speaking to The Hans India on Thursday, assistant director of agriculture Nerella Ramesh expressed hope that the showers in the last three days would save the day for cotton farmers.
Gudarapu Krishnamurthy of Narsingapur under Mancherial mandal, who took up cultivation of cotton in his 4.5 acres, said that the continued dry spell cast its shadow on the cotton crop. Future looks bleak for me, he said. While 22 mandals recorded deficit rainfall, 29 mandals received normal rainfall in the district.
In Nalgonda also drought-like situation prevails. In the month of July, Aleru, Bhongir, Munugodu, Devarakonda, Nagarjuna Sagar, Kodad, Nakrekal, Nalgonda, Thungathurthy and Suryapet received deficit rain fall resulting in a condition where crops are withering.
Source - http://www.thehansindia.com/
