Mission Kakatiya, the water tank revival programme started by the Telangana Government, has resulted in an increase in gross area irrigated under tank irrigated areas (ayacut).

“There is an increase in the yields of paddy, cotton and jowar. There is an increase of household agricultural income by 78.50 per cent in the tank ayacut area. The reason for increase can be attributed to increase in irrigated area and also the yields,” a report said.

The intensity of of irrigation (percentage of irrigated area to the net sown area) has gone by 45.6 per cent over the base year.

“The irrigation intensity has gone up from 88.40 per cent in 2013-14 to 134 per cent,” the report by NABCON, the consultancy arm of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

The NABCON has said they had selected 400 tanks in the (undivided) districts of Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Nalgonda, covering all the agro-climatic zones in the State.

Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao released the report here on Sunday.

“With more availability of water in the tanks, the area under paddy has substantially been increased from 49.20 per cent in the base year to 62.10 per cent in the assessment year despite the fact that there was a good rainfall in the base year,” the report said.

“The increase is mainly due to the increased water storage and retention capacity in the tanks after the tank renovation programme. The area under cotton has come down from 36.2 per cent to 26.3 per cent. The farmers preferred to grow paddy instead of cotton as sufficient water is available in the tanks,” it said.

Ground water

As it helped in reviving the tanks, the programme also helped in increasing groundwater levels. “In base year, the average rise in groundwater level was 6.91 metres where as it is 9.02 m in the year 2016,” it claimed.

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