With the kharif season coming to a close, Telangana has registered a significant drop in acreage of paddy and pulses. Official figures show a decline of 20 per cent in paddy and a 30 per cent in pulses acreage.

Rain brings hope With the State struggling hard to meet the power requirements at the fag end of the season, officials are worried about further losses in the next two weeks. But widespread rains in several districts on Saturday rekindled hopes.

As a result of drop in paddy and red gram and green gram acreage, foodgrains production is expected to be hit in the State. The total area under foodgrains has come down to 17 lakh hectares (ha), according to the provisional figures available with the Agriculture Department. This is about 30 per cent less than the season average of 20 lakh ha.

The total pulses’ area has been declined to 3.5 lakh ha against the normal area of 5 lakh ha. The other crops that witnessed lesser acreage this season include castor, jowar, chillies and turmeric.

Cotton proves dependable Cotton, however, has shown an increase of 9 per cent. Cotton cultivation, though not recommended in the rain-fed State, is generally grown in 15 lakh ha during the season. A relatively resilient crop, cotton is seen as a dependable crop by the farmers.

“The acreage has grown up to 16.76 lakh hectares this year notwithstanding the initial fears. This is higher than last year’s figure of 16.30 lakh hectares. Pickings have begun in most parts,” an official from the Ministry told BusinessLine .

Soyabean, which is grown in a little over one lakh hectares, has shown a significant increase as the acreage cross the 2.7-lakh ha mark. The area of sugarcane too went up to 44,700 ha from the average of 38,400 ha. Maize too made marginal gains from the average figure of 4.66 lakh ha.

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