The Hindu Business Line : AP to have a bumper kharif season

ANDHRA Pradesh is set to record an all-time high agricultural production in the kharif season, with the initial estimates putting the total foodgrains production at 113.25 lakh tonnes (lt) against the average of 84.68 lt.

The State could achieve this, despite an estimated loss of 15 lt of foodgrains in the recent floods and excess rain in some parts.

Keeping in view the bumper crop estimates, the Government has alerted the officials of the Marketing Department to put things in place when the produce enters the market.

Rice production is estimated at 83.03 lt against the average of 64.05 tonnes.

"This is an all-time high," said Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, Minister for Agriculture. He attributed this to copious rainfall and the initiatives such as seed villages and `Polambadi' taken by the Government this year.

Releasing the initial estimates here at a press conference on Friday, Mr Reddy said that productivity too, saw an all-time high. The productivity of rice went up to 3,175 kg/hectare against the average of 2,695 kg/ha and that of maize was expected to be at 3,255 kg/ha (2,629 kg/ha).

An interesting feature of this kharif season is that there was a significant dip in the use of pesticides. "As against 1,778 tonnes in 2004-05, the farmers consumed just 825 tonnes. This is a positive development," the Minister commented.

With the prospects of getting good returns, the Government hopes that the number of suicides by farmers would further fall. "As it is, the number has gone down drastically. We hope it will decrease further," the Minister added.

Credit targets were met at 107 per cent against 95 per cent. Nearly 10,000 Rythu Mithra Groups got a credit of Rs 101.91 crore against Rs 24.21 crore to 2,307 groups last year. Interestingly, the number of tenant farmers who got credit went up to 23,105 from 5,850 last year.

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