Telangana gross cropped area shot up from 1.31 cr acres to 2.38 cr acres in last decade

Within short span of these 10 years, the agriculture production jumped from 1.54 crore tonnes to 3.78 crore tonnes.

Hyderabad: Telangana has recorded an unprecedented growth of 134.65 per cent in terms of its share in all India gross cropped area from 2.28 per cent in 2014-15 to 5.35 per cent in 2022-23. The gross cropped area within the State increased from 1.31 crore acres to 2.38 crore acres i.e. 81.6 per cent rise during the corresponding period.

Within short span of these 10 years, the agriculture production jumped from 1.54 crore tonnes to 3.78 crore tonnes. This is around 145.45 per cent increase. Despite having only three per cent of geographical area of the country, Telangana’s share in gross cropped area is about 5.35 per cent in the country.

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Releasing a report on “Agriculture in Telangana – from Plight to Pride” chronicling agricultural growth in Telangana over the decade here on Friday, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the State government adopted exemplary initiatives for agriculture development and farmers welfare through multi-dimensional holistic approach. “Telangana has set a new benchmark for agricultural development through proactive measures that helped us transform the sector on numerous fronts and also ensured employment for nearly 58 per cent of the State population, directly and indirectly,” he said.

The Minister stated that the State government has spent nearly Rs 4.5 lakh crore for the development of agriculture and allied sector in the last decade.

Among several other achievements during the past decade, Telangana emerged as one of the potential States for oil palm cultivation with average productivity reaching 8 tonnes of FBB (fresh fruit bunches) per acre and oil extraction ratio (OER) is 19.32 per cent which is high compared to other States in the country. The oil palm production has surged from 57,873 tonnes in 2014-15 to 2.74 lakh tonnes in 2021-22.

He reminded that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) identified Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima as two of the 10 most influential programmes on the human kind in the world. “They were impressed with these schemes and invited Telangana to give a presentation at the global conference to be held in the US on October 24-26,” he said.

Rythu Bandhu Samithi chairman Palla Rajeswara Reddy, Agriculture Secretary M Raghunandan Rao and other officials participated in the programme.