Hyderabad: The decline in agriculture is being attributed to limited irrigation resources in TS. Only 46.1 per cent of agricultural land has irrigation facilities, that too under borewells and wells. Drought conditions due to poor monsoons in the last few years have led to the depletion of groundwater, which has adversely affected agriculture.
Data collected by TS economics and statistics department for the period from 2009 to 2014 revealed that nearly 17.21 lakh hectare was irrigated through borewells and wells, 2.9 lakh hectare through canals and 2.3 lakh hectare through tanks.
During 2013-14, paddy was sown on 8.39 lakh hectare, maize on 2.26 lakh hectares, cotton on 1.96 lakh hectare and groundnut on 1.74 lakh hectare. The decline in output has resulted in usage of agricultural lands for non-agriculture purposes. Khammam stood at the top with regard to use of land for non-agriculture purposes at 1.32 lakh hectare.
