Survey of rain-fed agriculture off to a start in Telangana

Field-level official machinery of the Agriculture Department has been tasked with the job which is expected to be completed within two to three days

Hyderabad: A Statewide survey of the rain-fed crop area has begun in Telangana began on Thursday. The field-level official machinery of the Agriculture Department has been tasked with the job which is expected to be completed within two to three days.

The survey is expected to help in mapping land being irrigated under the wells and bore wells and other unlisted sources along with the lands that are solely rain-fed. The information thus gathered is expected to help in incorporating new measures for sustainable rain-fed agriculture.

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The State is already working out modalities for advancing the crop season, especially Yasangi, as part of a multi-pronged approach to ensure farmers of a better harvest. By advancing the crop seasons, the crop losses due to rain ravage could be prevented in a big way.

Management of the dry land and rained agriculture has been enjoying focused attention of the Agriculture department. The department has already shouldered the task of identifying the challenges of dry-land farming to help the farmers overcome and achieve better yields.

Even the National Rainfed Area Authority has also planned similar measures to achieve desired results by 2025. But it failed to make any significant headway with its initiative and started losing steam over the years. Agriculture enjoyed greater priority with the Chief Minister paying special interest in the sector.

With the State government scaling up substantially its spending on irrigation sector, the Gross Irrigated Area (GIA) in the State increased from 62.48 lakh acres in 2014-15 to 135 lakh acres in 2021-22, an increase of 117 percent. It had spent over Rs 1.61 lakh crore on irrigation projects in the State during the 2014-15 to 2022-23 period.

Telangana State has been divided into four agro-climatic zones based on the geographical characteristics such as rainfall, nature of soils, climate etc. The agricultural planning for each zone is supported with extensive research. The survey on the rain-fed agriculture is being viewed as the precursor to the introduction of new programmes aimed at bailing out the farmers from the monsoon gamble.