Crops sown in Telangana have seen a drop of 2% in June due to poor rainfall, according to the Agriculture department. As of July 8, crops sowed for the Kharif season constituted 32%, which is 2% less than last year’s crop.
Out of the total 43,34,487 hectares (ha) of farmland, farmers have sown crops in a total of 13,81,803 hectares against previous year’s 14,84,244 ha.
For the month of June, 19 districts in the state received deficit rainfall (-20% to -59%) and three districts received scanty rainfall (-60% to -99%), affecting agriculture severely. Normal rainfall for the state for June is 180.3 mm but Telangana received only 122.7 mm.
The department said that Nalgonda district in Telangana received the state’s lowest rainfall of 45.1 mm, which is 62 mm less from the normal rainfall for the month of June.
The drop in hectares sowed is seen in Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda and Khammam districts. Last year in June, for example, farmers in Nizamabad had sown crops in 69,877 ha as against the present 10,706 ha.
Cotton, paddy, red gram, maize and soya are the crops that are widely grown in Telangana. Of these, farmers have sown paddy in 48,167 ha, cotton in 8,80,321 ha, which is a deficit of 4% compared to last year during June. Red gram was sown in only 1,01,5079 ha against previous year’s 1,36,181 ha, a difference of 11%.
However, in terms of the maize and soya sowed, there was a difference of only 1%. Maize was sown in 1,22,278 ha and soya in 84,110 ha.
The 19 districts which recorded deficit rainfall were Adilabad, Mancherial, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Jagital, Peddapally, Bhupalapally, Kothagudem, Mahabubabad, Warangal, Rajanna-Sircilla, Sangareddy, Medak, Jangoan, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Medchal, Hyderabad, Vikarabad and Mulugu.
Due to the poor rainfall, the agriculture department has been advising farmers to avoid growing soya, maize and cotton in areas that are ‘rain critical’. They are also advocating that farmers opt for short-duration (90-120 days) and medium-duration (120-140 days) paddy crops.