Kharif Slows, State Activates Crop Plan

With over 40 days of the southwest monsoon season already over and barely 20 days left for completion of Kharif sowing, Telangana is facing mounting concerns over delayed agricultural operations. According to a report submitted by the Agriculture department to the state government after collecting field-level information from all districts, only 41.79 per cent of the normal Kharif area has been brought under cultivation as of July 8, with sowing remaining below 20 per cent in nine districts and below 50 per cent in another 16 districts, under the impact of El Nino.

With the effective sowing window shrinking rapidly, the state government has directed the Agriculture department to implement a contingency crop plan from July 15 in districts lagging behind in cultivation. The department is preparing to promote short-duration crop varieties, distribute suitable seed varieties and ensure timely availability of agricultural inputs to enable farmers to complete sowing within the remaining season and minimise crop losses.

Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageshwar Rao will hold a meeting at ICRISAT on Monday with officials of Agriculture and Horticulture Universities, scientists of ICRISAT, IIOR, IIMR, CRIDA, and officials of IMD, Agriculture, Horticulture and Ground Water departments. The meeting will review the three contingency plans prepared by scientists and officials and finalise an action plan.

The report noted that the southwest monsoon, which entered Telangana on June 8 and subsequently covered the entire state, arrived later than usual. Although moderate to normal rainfall was received across the state during the past week, with 31.5 mm against the normal 43.2 mm, a deficit of 26 per cent, cumulative rainfall from June 1 to July 8 stood at 154.9 mm against the normal 177.9 mm, registering a deficit of 13 per cent, which still falls under the "normal" category. During June, the state received 115 mm rainfall against the normal 130.3 mm, a deficit of 12 per cent, while July rainfall till July 8 stood at 39.9 mm against the normal 47.6 mm, a deficit of 16 per cent.

District-wise rainfall analysis showed that none of the districts recorded excess, large deficit or no-rainfall conditions. Thirteen districts recorded normal rainfall, while the remaining 20 districts recorded deficit rainfall.

Despite the delayed onset of the monsoon, farmers who had already prepared their fields commenced sowing cotton, pulses, cereals, millets and other crops. The Agriculture Department said normal rainfall during June and early July enabled cultivation to cover 55.31 lakh acres against the normal Kharif target of 132.38 lakh acres.

Crop-wise data revealed that cotton led the sowing activity with 39.44 lakh acres, accounting for 83.19 per cent of its seasonal normal, followed by soybean with 3.35 lakh acres or 80.29 per cent coverage. Sugarcane achieved 64.44 per cent coverage, red gram 58.63 per cent and green gram 55.36 per cent. Maize reached 46.09 per cent, jowar 41.67 per cent, castor 26.65 per cent and sunflower 25.55 per cent. In contrast, paddy cultivation remained sluggish at only 4.22 lakh acres, covering just 6.40 per cent of the normal target of 65.96 lakh acres. Groundnut recorded only 9.79 per cent coverage, bajra 11.42 per cent, horse gram 11 per cent, ragi 14.85 per cent, black gram 29.05 per cent and sesamum recorded no sowing at all.

The department categorised paddy, bajra, ragi, horse gram, groundnut, sesamum and sunflower under the below-25 per cent coverage category. Jowar, maize, black gram and castor registered coverage between 26 and 50 per cent, while red gram, green gram and sugarcane achieved between 51 and 75 per cent. Soybean and cotton alone crossed the 76 per cent mark.

District-wise sowing progress also reflected wide disparities. Adilabad emerged as the best-performing district with 94.16 per cent coverage, where farmers cultivated 5.46 lakh acres out of the normal target of 5.80 lakh acres. Komaram Bheem Asifabad followed with 79.82 per cent and Sangareddy with 79.49 per cent. Nirmal registered 59.67 per cent, Nizamabad 54.16 per cent, Narayanpet 53.60 per cent and Bhadradri Kothagudem 52.12 per cent. On the other hand, sowing remained below 20 per cent in Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Jagtial, Medak, Siddipet, Mulugu, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Wanaparthy and Suryapet, while major paddy-growing districts such as Nalgonda, Suryapet and Siddipet, along with Kamareddy, Nagarkurnool, Khammam, Vikarabad and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, continued to report disappointing progress.

Overall, 11 districts recorded less than 25 per cent sowing coverage, 14 districts achieved between 26 and 50 per cent, four districts registered between 51 and 75 per cent, while only three districts — Adilabad, Komaram Bheem Asifabad and Sangareddy — crossed the 75 per cent mark.