Lack of rains and depleting groundwater levels are blamed for crops in lakhs of acres in Nalgonda district withering.

Agriculture officials, on the condition of anonymity, said that half of the crop cultivated in the district has withered due to insufficient water.

Paddy and other commercial crops were cultivated in 4,20,523 acres in the Nalgonda district, 3,82,106 acres in Suryapet and 2,91,767 acres in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district. Of this, half of the crops cultivated in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts, and a quarter of the crops in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district have dried up, they say.

Farmers have been unable to save their crops from withering even after digging an additional five to 10 borewells. Agriculture department officials said there was no damage to crops planted in some parts of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district which come under the Musi catchment areas.

Farmers in the Nalgonda district primarily rely on the Nagarjuna Sagar Project for their water requirements, while their counterparts in Suryapet rely on water from the Kaleshwaram project and those in Yadadri draw water from Musi canals. Since the last 15 years, due to heavy rains in the state and abundant water in the projects, the farmers of the erstwhile Nalgonda district have cultivated the land and achieved the desired yield.

For the last three years, Nalgonda district has been the biggest producer of paddy in the state and set records. However, due to the lack of rains in the Rabi season this year, the water in the Nagarjuna Sagar Project has reached dead storage levels, so a crop holiday was declared. However, many farmers cultivated paddy and other crops, optimistic that their prayers for rain would be answered.

Madhusudan, a farmer from Kesarajupalli, Tipparti mandal, told TNIE that he had planted paddy in four acres, but the water available in the bore wells was sufficient for only two acres and the crop in the remaining two acres had withered. “We are facing drought-like conditions for the first time in about 25 years,” he said.

Groundwater levels

Nalgonda

• 5.27 metres (February 2023)

• 8.88 metres (February 2024)

Suryapet

• 4.40 metres (February 2023)

• 7.23 metres (February 2024)

Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri

• 4.91 metres (February 2023)

• 7.29 metres (February 2024)

Source - https://www.newindianexpress.com