Foodgrain production in Telangana is set to fall well below the targets set by the State government. Dry spells in the kharif season have hit foodgrain ouput.

A shift in favour of cotton, too, has impacted acreage. As against a target of 54 lakh tonnes (lt), the total foodgrain production is likely to be at 36.87 lt.

In the First Advance Estimates of area, production and yield, the State government has pegged the total area under foodgrain crops at 15.65 lakh hectares (lh). This was lower than the 16.25 lh in 2015-16 and 20.66 lh in the previous year.

Foodgrain production in the State fell to 35.75 lt in 2015-16 from 44.72 lt in the previous year. Rice is going to be a loser in the 2017 kharif with an estimated production of 22.66 lt. This would be lower than the production of 29 lt in the last kharif.

Though this meets the kharif production levels of 2015-16, it is lower than the State’s estimates of 32.45 lt. Production of maize too is going to see a dip with the State estimating a production of 11.86 lt this kharif as against 16.21 lt in 2015-16.

Cotton gains

The dip in the area under foodgrains is largely attributed to the significant increase in the cotton area. Noting the good price last season and after a bitter experience with chillis, farmers in the State have returned to the fibre crop in a big way. This triggered the growth of area to 18.24 lakh ha — the highest in three years.

There was a dip in the area last year after the government asked the farmers to reduce the dependence on cotton and shift to alternative crops such as maize, soya and chillies.

The First Advance estimates pegged a marked increase in the production of pulses at 2.03 lakh tonnes against 1.63 lakh tonnes in 2015-16.

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