Incessant Rains Wreak Havoc On Standing Crops

ADILABAD: Incessant rains are causing extensive damage to standing crops, including cotton, soya, and red gram, in Adilabad district. Farmers are struggling to remove the weeds that have grown rapidly due to the continuous downpour. They also report that low sunlight has stunted plant growth, raising fears of reduced yields this year. Heavy rains have been lashing several parts of Adilabad district for the past two days.

The Union government has increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton to ₹8,110 per quintal for 2025-26, up from ₹7,521 last year, an additional benefit of ₹589 per quintal. Adilabad district agriculture officer Sridhar Swamy said cotton was cultivated on 4.40 lakh acres during the kharif season and is currently at the 50-day stage. However, farmers are unable to carry out weeding operations because of the continuous rains, leading to severe damage to the standing crop.

Farmer Rupesh of Bela said, “By this time every year, cotton plants would have grown to a certain height, but this season the plants are much shorter due to bad weather. We expect a sharp fall in yields.” Farmers estimate that output may decline to 6 quintals per acre compared to the usual 10 quintals in favourable conditions.

Agriculture extension officers have already assessed crop damage caused by floods and submitted reports to the state government. According to the agriculture department, standing crops in 17,496 acres belonging to 12,775 farmers have been damaged in Adilabad.

Meanwhile, departments including Panchayat Raj, Mission Bhagiratha, Irrigation, ITDA, and Municipal Administration have also assessed damages to roads, bridges, and pipelines and submitted reports.

Mancherial collector Kumar Deepak said cotton was cultivated on 1,61,193 acres in the district this kharif season, with an expected yield of 13,33,811 quintals.