Karimnagar: Majority Of Farmers Raising Long-Duration Paddy

Despite the governmental call against the cultivation of paddy this time in view of the El Nino and water scarcity, all the paddy varieties sown this time in the erstwhile Karimnagar district are long-duration ones.

The government, which provided `500 bonus to fine variety paddy, has put restrictions on paddy varieties this time around. It advised farmers to stay away from paddy cultivation and go for irrigated dry (ID) crops. “If farmers are keen on raising paddy crop, they could choose short duration paddy varieties so that the crop requires less water,” the government had advised.

Except for two, the remaining five advised by the government are long-duration varieties. KNM 1638 and Telangana Sona are short duration (120 days) varieties. BPT, KNM 7715, Jai Sreeram, HMT Sona and Warangal 44 are long-duration crops.

However, a majority of the farmers sowed long- duration varieties by setting aside the government’s advice.

Paddy is sown in 2.65 lakh acres in Karimnagar. Of this, fine variety was cultivated in 1.79 lakh acres including BPT (60,250 acres), Telangana Sona (14,400), KNM 1638 (78,870), KNM 7715 (6467), Jai Sreeram (13,840), HMT sona (5,300) and Warangal 44 (196).

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, farmer M Rajammallaiah said that it was not possible to get a bumper yield with short duration varieties. The paddy varieties which have 140 to 150 days’ duration would give good yield. So, a majority of the farmers cultivated long- duration varieties despite the warning of deficit rainfall due to El Nino, he said.

Senior scientist and head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jammikunta, N Venkateshwar Rao said that anticipating troubles during the time of harvesting, farmers opted for long-duration varieties. “If the fields are located in low-lying areas and near to ponds and tanks, water would not recede by the time of harvesting. So, farmers avoided short duration varieties,” he said.