Hyderabad: Telangana State is all set to establish new records in agriculture with paddy production expected to breach the one crore tonne mark in a single season for the first time. A whopping yield of 1.25 crore tonnes is expected during the ongoing Vaanakalam (Kharif) season, registering an increase of 33.36 lakh tonnes over last Vaanakalam’s production of 91.74 lakh tonnes.
According to the first advance estimates tabulated by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, about 1.25 crore tonnes of paddy will be produced from the 52.77 lakh acres under cultivation this season. Paddy production had crossed one crore tonnes in two seasons in the last two years, but this will be first time that paddy production will cross the one crore tonne mark in a single season. Further, there will be a 12 per cent increase in the yield per acre from 2,227 tonnes per acre in last Vaanakalam season to 2,500 tonnes per acre in the current Vaanakalam season.
“The increased irrigation facilities especially Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) and its affiliated irrigation systems have encouraged farmers to take up paddy cultivation on a large scale. After milling, about 83.66 lakh tonnes of rice is expected. However, the exact paddy production will be known only after harvesting,” an agricultural department official told Telangana Today.
The total production of foodgrains is expected to be around 97.8 lakh tonnes (including 83.66 lakh tonnes rice). While the yield of non-food grains is estimated at 58.78 lakh tonnes, the yield of other crops is likely ot be around 22.8 lakh tonnes.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has already announced that the State government will purchase the entire paddy yield during the ongoing monsoon season at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Accordingly, the State government is likely to spend about Rs 2,300 crore to procure paddy from farmers for a single season. He also promised to arrangement for purchase of cotton through the Cotton Corporation of India at MSP.
A total 1.34 crore acres are under cultivation for agricultural crops in the State, in addition to about 9.8 lakh acres of horticultural crops. Cotton is being cultivated in about 60.36 lakh acres and its production is estimated around 54.81 lakh tonnes during the current season. Similarly, redgram is being cultivated in about 10.78 lakh acres and is expected to produce about 8.44 lakh tonnes yield.
Other major crops receiving good yield during the current monsoon season in the State include 4.7 lakh tonnes of maize, 3.42 lakh tonnes of soya, 53,000 tonnes of jowar, 41,000 tonnes of groundnut, 22,000 tonnes of greengram, and 21,000 tonnes of blackgram.
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