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The rabi season has taken off on a lukewarm note in Telangana. Excessive rains towards the end of the kharif season has delayed the harvesting, which in turn has delayed rabi sowing.
As against the average 5.54 lakh acres, the farmers sowed various crops only on 2.75 lakh acres so far. The average total cropped area for the summer season in the State was 37 lakh acres.
Paddy sowing in Telangana has not started yet. The State would have completed sowing on over 5,000 acres. The farmers are busy with the harvesting and marketing of their kharif produce.
Crop regulation
The State, which would have covered 94,000 acres with coarse grains (crops like jowar, bajra, maize) by now, has covered only 11,162 acres. With 4 lakh acres out of the 4.93 lakh acres of coarse grain area in the rabi, maize dominates the season. But the State Government has asked the farmers not to grow the crop, keeping in view the poor demand.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had cautioned the farmers against going for maize. “Though we asked not to grow the crop in Kharif, several farmers went ahead and grew it. We have decided to buy the produce for this time. Since there is no demand for the crop, you should not grow it this time,” he warned.
Crop targets
Under the new regulated cropping system, Telangana set a target of 50 lakh acres for paddy in the summer season as against the season normal of 22 lakh acres. Last year, it grew paddy on 39 lakh acres in the summer season.
The plan for other crops in the rabi includes: bengal gram (4.5 lakh acres); groundnut (4 lakh acres), maize (1 lakh acres), chillies and vegetables (2 lakh acres), greengram (60,000) and sunflower (40,000).
Despite the lukewarm start, officials, however, are confident that the targets set for the season would be comfortably met.
“The cumulative storage in all reservoirs as on date is 937 tmc as against 836 tmc on the same day last year. We expect the sowing to pick up in the next few weeks,” a senior official of the Agriculture Department said.
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