The Telangana government has forecast an increase in the cotton area in the state during the upcoming Kharif season. The area under cotton is likely to exceed 20.23 lakh hectares, compared to 17.70 lakh hectares last year.
Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said that the farmers are likely to grow paddy in 27 lakh ha as against 26.50 lakh ha last year.
He said that maize would be grown in about 2.50 lakh ha (2.20 lakh ha last year), and soyabean in 3.6 lakh ha as against 1.61 lakh ha last year.
After a review meeting on the kharif preparedness, Rao directed the officials to position enough seed to meet the demand.
The state sees a requirement of 16.70 lakh quintals of paddy seeds, 4.8 lakh quintals of maize seeds, 89 lakh packets (450 gm each) of cottonseeds and 1.35 lakh quintals of soybean seeds.
Officials told the Minister that 2.4 crore packets of cottonseeds would be made available.
The Minister stated that special attention should be paid to the varieties of demand, considering past experiences.
He also noted that the government was aware of instances where seed production farmers have suffered losses. Some organisers, who act as intermediaries between seed companies and farmers, were causing difficulties to farmers regarding fair pricing and payments.