Low Water Level in Nagarjuna Sagar Worries AP Farmers Raising Kharif Crop
In Palnadu district, farmers are expecting water from the RMC towards the end of July. They are hoping to raise crops like paddy during August. In case there is no availability of water, these farmers will go in for dry crops like cotton, red gram, black gram, and soybean.
Vijayawada: Farmers within the 13.08 lakh acres command area under Nagarjunasagar Project’s Right Main Canal (RMC) are worried about raising crops, particularly paddy, during the ensuing Kharif season, as the water level in the dam is very low.
The current storage in Nagarjunasagar project is 151.84 TMC (48.66 per cent) against gross capacity of 312.05 TMC at full reservoir level (FRL). The current inflow of water in the dam is zero and outflow is nearly 6,906 cusecs.
Nagarjunasagar’s RMC runs through parts of districts including Guntur, Palnadu, Bapatla and Prakasam. Farmers take up cultivation of crops like paddy once the water is released from the dam into the canal, ideally in the first or second week of July and August. However, farmers depending on rainfall and borewells go for irrigated dry crops like black gram, red gram, cotton and others.
With the prolonged dry spell under the influence of El Niño, the RMC farmers are very worried about raising their Kharif crop. Only good rainfall in the catchment areas of Krishna River filling up upstream irrigation projects, including Srisailam, will facilitate release of water from the Nagarjunasagar Dam which, in turn, will release water through its RMC to the command area.
Some farmers, especially those from Prakasam district, are of the opinion that they may get water in the second week of August. Farmers in these areas raise dry crops like red gram, bajra, and others. Once there is rainfall and water is released into the right main canal, these farmers destroy what they have sown and raise paddy instead. In case there is no release of water, they continue with the same crop.
In Palnadu district, farmers are expecting water from the RMC towards the end of July. They are hoping to raise crops like paddy during August. In case there is no availability of water, these farmers will go in for dry crops like cotton, red gram, black gram, and soybean.
In Bapatla too, cultivation of crops for Kharif begins late in August. If water is available, paddy will be raised; if not, farmers will opt for dry crops like Bengal gram and cotton.