HYDERABAD: Kharif agricultural activities have picked up across Telangana due to timely rains and lifting of lockdown restrictions totally from June 20. It is expected that the total crop area sown in this season will reach record 1.40 crore acres.
As per the IMD report, the state normally receives a normal rainfall of 95.4 mm as on date. But it has already witnessed 137.66 mm of rain, which is 40 per cent in excess.
Total sown area so far is 18.88 lakh acres, of which cotton accounts for 14.82 lakh acres and red gram 1.58 lakh acres.
State government has credited total Rythu Bandhu amount of Rs. 6,664 crore into the bank accounts of 59.71 lakh farmers till date since June 15. Balance four lakh farmers will be covered by June 25.
Agriculture minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on Tuesday told media personnel that the department has kept ready 13 lakh quintals of various seed varieties to meet the increased demand.
To encourage organic farming, the government is supplying organic manures at 65 per cent subsidy. About 8.64 lakh metric tonnes of fertilisers, including 4.41 lakh metric tonnes of urea have been kept ready to meet the necessary requirements in the state.
At present, agriculture crops are being sown over 2.31 crore acres and horticulture crops over 11.57 lakh acres in Kharif and Rabi put together in Telangana. This is significantly higher when compared to crops sown when Telangana had been formed in 2014. At that time, agriculture crops had been sown only on 1.31 crore acres and horticulture crops on 9.62 lakh acres.
