Week-long rains have revived the hopes of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, with rainfall deficit coming down to just 6 per cent from 24 per cent a fortnight ago.
Barring Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa and Anantapur districts, other regions received bountiful rain during July 19 to 25, registering an excess rainfall of 5 per cent.
However, the as-on-date figures show there is a huge shortfall of 8 lakh hectares in the area to be sown. By now, the farmers would have sown in 47 lakh ha. But according to the latest figures, sowings were completed only in 39 lakh ha.
Paddy, however, continues to be the worst-hit among the major crops. It is sown only in 3.5 lakh ha against the average as-on-date area of 5.60 lakh ha.
On the other hand, cotton area has gone up significantly. Farmers grew cotton in 16.14 lakh ha against the normal area of 12.32 lakh ha, registering a growth of 131 per cent.
kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in
Keywords: Cotton, cotton acreage, AP cotton farmers, rainfall,
Comments:
Cotton crop is much more adapted to drought conditions than many other crops. I can site one good example to show how tolerant they are. This example can be an opener for our scientists. I am going to tell how human ingenuity can produce wonders. California is supposed to be a desert with average rainfall of 20 inches or less. It does not depend on monsoons for producing the world's highest yield of crops per acre. Cotton production is almost 8 times more than India. As part of land preparation, chiseling is done to capture every inch of rainfall to achieve almost zero surface run off of rainwater. By the time panting season arrives in April, the soil profile will have moisture down to 3 feet or more. The seed is panted in the moisture and allow seedlings to grow up to 18 inches before a fist irrigation is done slowly along furrows to wet soil profile down to 3 feet. After this only 2 or 3 more irrigation is done until harvest. Water use efficiency is 8 times 7X7 more than in India.
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