Incessant rains dampen hopes of cotton farmers in Karimnagar

Karimnagar: Continuous rainfall dampened the hopes of cotton farmers. First ever in recent years, the highest rainfall was recorded in the district during the last one and half month consequently the cotton fields were submerged by rainwater. In some areas, rainwater has not receded from the fields. Though the rain water has seeped into the […]

Karimnagar: Continuous rainfall dampened the hopes of cotton farmers. First ever in recent years, the highest rainfall was recorded in the district during the last one and half month consequently the cotton fields were submerged by rainwater. In some areas, rainwater has not receded from the fields.

Though the rain water has seeped into the ground in majority areas, the soil has not been reached to normal condition so far. Suitable for cotton cultivation, the black soil lands have been damaged due to continuous rainfall as well as water stagnation for a long period.

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As a result, growth of cotton plants has not reached the expected height even after two months of its sowing. Besides hindering growth, plants have also been exposed to different types of diseases. Moreover, indiscriminate growth of weed is posing a big challenge to farmers. While some of the farmers left the crop, a majority of them began efforts to overcome the problem and spraying weed pests.

Speaking to Telangana Today, a tenant farmer from Vedira of Ramadugu mandal, Gurram Bhumaiah said that the growth of the cotton plants has hindered as soil was soggy following the continuous rainfall and water stagnation for a long time. He sowed the crop in June and the plant should have grown up to knee height but the saplings were looking like 20 days old. Every year, he usually produces eight to ten quintals of cotton in an acre of land. However, he was not sure to get at least two to three quintals this time around.

Owner of three acres land, Bhumaiah cultivated cotton and paddy in seven acres additionally on tenant basis. Another farmer, Ramaswamy said that weeds grew more in height than that of cotton plants as a result the latter were not appearing in the field. So far, pests had to spray for twice to two months old plants. However, he failed to do so due to continuous rain and stagnation of rainwater.

Moreover, they were unable to carry out ‘Gorru’ (plough) the field. District Agriculture Officer, V Sreedhar said that the growth of the plants was hindered as the farmers failed to do some work within the time. Incessant rains and water stagnation for a long time prevented the farmers from clearing weeds and spraying fertilizer. As a result, the plants failed to grow up to the mark.

Informing that plants would raise if fertilizer was sprinkled by cleaning weeds, he made it clear that at any cost, the yield could declined by 2 quintals per acre. According to agriculture department statistics, cotton was cultivated in about 42,000 acres in the district.