Big shift to irrigation-intensive paddy crop likely in Telangana

The area under paddy in the current season, as per the projections of the Agriculture Department, is expected to be over 66 lakh acres, little over one third of the projected Kharif area of 1.52 crore acres this year.

Hyderabad: Despite water scarcity, the area under paddy cultivation in Telangana is likely to witness a big increase. The support of irrigation, which was assured for the last seven to eight years, was the significant factor contributing to the increasing shift to paddy cultivation.

However, even when the State is facing a severe water shortage, failure of irrigation systems resulting in crop holidays in parts of the State, the craze for paddy cultivation does not appear to have subsided.

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The increase could have been phenomenal by this time, but for the export restrictions in force on certain varieties of rice.

During the last Yasangi (Rabi) season, paddy was raised in nearly 54 lakh acres, a 160 per cent increase compared to the normal cultivation area.

Paddy crop was lost in four to five percent of the total crop area due to scarcity conditions in the command area of both the Krishna and Godavari basin projects, but it is still considered remunerative. The lure of the bonus promised by the State government, MSP adjustments by the Centre and shifting crop choices, have contributed in a big way to the growth of paddy cultivation in Telangana.

Despite the hassles of untimely rains adding to the harvest time travails, farmers are still opting for purchases assured by the government under the MSP operations.

The area under paddy in the current season, as per the projections of the Agriculture Department, is expected to be over 66 lakh acres, little over one third of the projected Kharif area of 1.52 crore acres this year.

But paddy cultivation is likely to go beyond the projections. Much of the paddy area is likely to be covered with superfine varieties that command better price and better demand compared to the coarse varieties of paddy. The Kharif crop season commences usually in June. But because of the widespread pre-monsoon showers, the farm operations picked a bit up early this time.

The sowing operations were completed so far in over 19.5 lakh acres and nearly 15.5 lakh acres of it was covered by cotton and over one lakh acres by red gram.

The State is expected to witness paddy sowing and transplantation in the next two weeks in a big way. Cotton farmers, hit by poor germination of seed during the past two weeks, are also expected to shift to paddy.

By all means, the raising in the paddy area is likely to defy expectations as good rains have been forecast for rest of the season, starting from July. But increase in the area under the paddy and cotton, that too at the expense of other important crops such as maize, jowar, pigeon pea and soyabean may be upsetting the balance approach to crop planning, which the State was aiming at in the larger interest of the farming community.