Withering crops tell a sorry tale

However, with no sign of rains, crops such as cotton, soya bean, pulses, tur dal, maize etc, sown in lakhs of acres, have already started wilting.

Agriculture officials fear that if the monsoon is delayed by another week, all the crops will be lost for want of water and inadequate moisture in the soil, resulting in the worst-ever agrarian crisis in Telangana.

According to data available with the agriculture department, Adilabad has the highest sown crop area in TS at 3.17 lakh hectares, followed by Mahabubnagar (3.04 lakh hectares), Warangal (2.64 lakh hectares), Medak (2.19 lakh hectares), Karimnagar (2.16 lakh hectares), Nizamabad (1.96 lakh hectares), Nalgonda (1.88 lakh hectares), Khammam (1.16 lakh hectares) and Ranga Reddy (1.01 lakh hectares).

“Cotton was sown in 27 lakh acres, followed by maize in 6.40 lakh acres, pulses in 5.50 lakh acres, soya bean in 4.45 lakh acres and tur dal in 3.26 lakh acres. Of them, crops to an extent of 5 lakh acres are in a crucial stage which needs water immediately and have started drying up due to lack of rains. Borewells, wells and tanks have also dried up and ground water levels are depleted due to drought conditions for the last two years. There is no other option for farmers to water these crops, except relying on rains,” said an official in the agriculture department.

Telangana has witnessed a higher sown crop area of 47 lakh acres in the very beginning of the Kharif season this year due to good rains in June, which amounts to 46 per cent of total crops sown in the state.

Of this, crops to an extent of 5 lakh acres have reached a crucial stage where they can’t survive without water even for a week due to inadequate moisture in the soil. Officials say these crops will be lost first if rains are delayed by a week and the problem will be compounded if the dry spell continues for another two weeks.