Dry spell forces Medak farmers to water unsprouted seeds manually

Facing a prolonged dry spell, farmers in the erstwhile Medak district are manually watering unsprouted seeds due to delayed rainfall. With reservoirs dry and paddy transplanting delayed, anxiety grows as rainfall deficits worsen across Medak, Siddipet and Sangareddy

Siddipet: An extended dry spell across the erstwhile Medak district has left farmers in distress, forcing them to manually water seeds sown in anticipation of monsoon rains. With no sign of rainfall, many seeds have failed to sprout, prompting farmers to use tanks, pots, sprinklers and sprayers to try and save their crops.

Farmers in the region have sown cotton, maize, soybean and other rainfed crops over large tracts of land. However, the prolonged absence of rain has severely affected germination. In many areas, desperate farmers were seen transporting water in containers and manually irrigating their fields.

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In Ramavaram village of Akkannapet mandal, a farmer named Karunakar was seen watering his cotton field, where seeds sown a fortnight ago had not sprouted. “If they don’t sprout, we’ll have to sow again, which means spending more on seeds,” he told Telangana Today, adding that they were doing everything possible to ensure germination.

Despite a positive monsoon forecast from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rainfall in June has remained well below average. Medak, Siddipet and Sangareddy districts recorded rainfall deficits of 45 per cent, 44 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively. Of the 75 mandals in the erstwhile Medak district, 33 registered large rainfall deficits, and 61 reported below-normal rainfall.

With the paddy nursery season approaching, farmers are reluctant to begin transplantation due to the lack of water. The drying up of the Godavari river has further worsened the situation. The irrigation department has not yet begun pumping water into the Ranganayaka Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar and Mallanna Sagar reservoirs, all of which are running dry. As a result, there is no indication of water release into canals and minor irrigation tanks that typically feed paddy fields.

Farmers are now anxiously watching the skies, hoping for a change in the weather.