Hyderabad: The rainfall deficit in the state has gone up from 9 per cent last week to 11 per cent this week, according to the latest report of the Telangana state agriculture department.
As of Thursday, nine of the 31 districts in the state were facing a deficit in rainfall. The districts of Adilabad, Komaram Bheem, Mancherial and Nirmal, which were formerly a part of the old Adilabad district, Jagtial, Peddapalli and Rajanna-Sircilla which were a part of the composite Karimnagar district, Nizamabad and Medak are experiencing a deviation of 20 to 59 per cent from the norm.
According to the report. the amount of rainfall received by the state since the beginning of the monsoon was 545 mm against the normal of 613.5 mm.
The districts of Hyderabad and Gadwal received 20 per cent excess rainfall. After last week’s rains, their status has remained unchanged.
The Medchal-Malkajagiri district, however, had recorded excess rainfall but has now slipped into the normal rainfall category along with 19 other districts.
The total area under cultivation this season is also below normal. Usually, about 43.24 lakh hectares of cropland are sown by this time of the year but as of Wednesday, crops had been sown in only 37.79 lakh hectares, a deviation of 13 per cent from normal.
In the districts of Gadwal, Suryapet and Jagtial, crops have been sown in 51 to 75 per cent of the land. Cotton alone occupies over 50 per cent of the area sown, which is about 18.61 lakh hectares.
Last year, cotton was grown on 12.1 lakh hectares, but this year, all previous records for the cultivation of cotton have been surpassed. The crop is expected to be ready to be harvested from the first week of October.
