El Nino Looms Large Over Rabi Season

Telangana is set to face a Rabi season that is drier and hotter than normal. Against this backdrop, the state agriculture department on Wednesday advised farmers to stay away from paddy during the Rabi season beginning in November.

Agriculture secretary K. Surendra Mohan, during a video conference with district collectors, asked officials to encourage farmers to opt for irrigated dry (ID) crops such as pulses and oilseeds, which require less water. He said cultivation during the season would have to depend largely on available groundwater reserves.

“The IMD is predicting that rainfall during rabi will be 10 per cent below normal and temperatures will be around one degree Celsius higher in the coming months. Under these conditions, with lower water availability and a hotter climate, crops such as pulses and oilseeds will be the right choice for farmers,” Surendra Mohan told Deccan Chronicle after the meeting.

He said the state government’s efforts to encourage diversification away from paddy had yielded results during the Kharif season, which will end later this month.

“Farmers planted about 11 lakh fewer acres of paddy during kharif, while cotton acreage increased by more than two lakh acres. The area under pulses increased by about 35 per cent. This was the result of repeated efforts to reach out to farmers and explain the risks of growing paddy during a poor monsoon season,” he said.

According to the crop-area figures, oilseed acreage increased from 3.76 lakh acres last year to 3.97 lakh acres this year.

Surendra Mohan said the government wanted farmers opting for alternative crops to earn more than they would from paddy, even after taking into account the minimum support price and bonus.

“We are seeing farmers who raised pulses and oilseeds getting more than what they would have earned had they raised paddy,” he said.

He said the combination of lower rainfall and higher temperatures would affect crops. “The irrigation department has been guiding us that whatever water is available in reservoirs will have to be conserved to meet drinking water needs and that it may not be able to provide irrigation. There is no alternative but to go for crops with low water requirements, such as pulses and oilseeds, this rabi,” he said.

Underscoring the government’s push away from paddy, scientists from the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, India Meteorological Department, Indian Institute of Rice Research, Indian Institute of Millets Research, Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University and Sri Konda Laxman Telangana Horticultural University participated in Wednesday’s review.