Despite Deficit Rains, Telangana Farmers Bet on Clouds

Hyderabad:Even as the now on-now off monsoon continues to play hide and seek with Telangana, farmers, apparently buoyed by late July and early August rain, have plunged headlong into agriculture activities planting various crops in around 107.17 lakh acres by the end of second week of August, inching towards last year’s 108,49,125 lakh acres by the same period during the Kharif crop season.

Data from the agriculture department for the period ending August 12 showed that the state had recorded an overall minus-8 per cent deficit rain and that farmers had sown different crops in 81 per cent of the 132.38 lakh acres of normal total Kharif crop season area.

For the first time in the past several years, likely driven by the government campaign to farmers to desist from raising paddy, the largely rain-fed cotton has become the largest planted crop, overtaking the acreage under paddy. While 47,71,698 acres are now under cotton, paddy was relegated to the second position at 41,54,006 acres. Last year, by August 12, farmers planted paddy in 45,20,974 acres and cotton in 44,63,517 acres.

That the July-August rains encouraged farmers to rush into planting of cotton could be seen in Adilabad district, which according to the agriculture department data racked up -18.9 deficit rainfall this Kharif. In Adilabad, cotton has been planted so far in 4,37,698 acres against last year’s 4,25,300 acres. This indicated that day-to-day rainfall played a vital role in planting decisions despite a poor overall monsoon season thus far.

Of the 32 districts in which agriculture is practised, 21 had net negative rainfall, with the deficits ranging from marginal 0.9 per cent in Mulugu, to 44.6 deficit in Hanamkonda district. The worst hit districts in terms of poor rainfall were the erstwhile combined Warangal, Khamma, Ranga Reddy, Mahbubnagar, and Nalgonda districts, while Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, and Medak fared somewhat better.