It had been a dream run for farmers in Telangana this kharif season. With the monsoon bringing in bountiful rainfall, farmers have sown crop in 124 lakh acres as against the targeted sown area of 126 lakh acres under the maiden Regulated Crop Plan of the State government.

The farmers covered 103 lakh acres last year, with the additional acreage coming in from the new irrigation facilities that came up in the State. Extensive rains in August have damaged the crop in about in 3-5 lakh acres in different parts of the State.

According to the latest reports, the farmers have sown paddy in 44.75 lakh acres this season as against the season normal of 27 lakh acres, showing a growth of 64 per cent. This is higher than the targeted 42 lakh acres. With more land getting support from the lift irrigation projects, the State had decided to regulate the crops.

“The government has decided to set up a Research and Analysis Committee with experts drawn from various sectors to analyse the demand for crops at the national and international level and prepare a cropping plan for the following season,” said B Janardhan Reddy, Secretary (Agriculture and Co-operation Department).

According to the maiden plan this year, cotton is to be sown in 60 lakh acres. The farmers have sown the fibre crop in 58.63 lakh acres, showing a growth of 32 per cent over the previous kharif’s cotton area.

Though the State asked the farmers not to grow maize in the kharif season, farmers grew the crop in 2 lakh acres. But this is only 17 per cent of the normal maize area of 12 lakh acres. The area under red gram went up to 10.50 lakh acres from the season normal of 7.5 lakh acres.

The State received 740 mm of rainfall so far as against the normal rainfall of 514 mm.

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