Telangana: Water crisis hits paddy crop hard

Reports indicate a significant reduction in paddy cultivation area, with nearly six lakh acres left fallow due to dwindling water supplies

Hyderabad: Among the country’s top paddy producers till recently, paddy farmers in Telangana are now grappling with a severe water crisis that threatens their livelihoods and crop yields.

Reports indicate a significant reduction in paddy cultivation area, with nearly six lakh acres left fallow due to dwindling water supplies. An additional 8 lakh to 10 lakh acres of standing crop across 15 districts are at risk, due to drought conditions.

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According to the latest reports of the State Agriculture department, paddy is being cultivated in 50,69,326 acres in the State for the current Yasangi season as on March 13.

Compared to the cultivation area of 56,44,850 acres in last Yasangi season, this is 5,75,524 lakh acres less. The total crop sown area as on Wednesday stands at 66,30,693 acres against 72,58,123 acres last Yasangi season. With the Yasangi season nearing to an end next week and the continuing water crisis, officials ruled out any further increase in the cultivation area.

With paddy harvest expected over the next two months, the lack of irrigation water poses a grave threat to crop survival and yields. Farmers are apprehensive about the drying up of crops and anticipate reduced yields due to insufficient irrigation. According to an estimation, crop yield is likely to reduce from 22-25 tonnes per acre to around 18-20 tonnes per acre due to inadequate water.

Vexed with the situation, farmers in the erstwhile districts of Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Nalgonda are largely abandoning their crops to save their investment on harvesting. A few of them have resorted to setting the paddy fields on fire or are letting cattle feast upon the dried crop, as a mark of protest and more as an act of desperation.

Water levels in several reservoirs depleting to minimum draw-drown levels (MDDL), with no respite in sight from upper riparian States like Maharashtra and Karnataka which themselves are facing severe water crisis. Farmers in several districts under erstwhile districts of Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Mahabubnagar, Khammam and Nalgonda, have resorting to digging up borewells in an attempt to mitigate the crisis. But with groundwater levels plummeting to an average of 8.7 metre last month, this hasn’t met with much success. With no contingency plan in place, farmers are left in the lurch.

“Paddy cultivation is likely to witness a decline of around 15 lakh acres during the current Yasangi season. Due to shortage of irrigation water, the crop is drying up in several districts. Field level inspections by the agriculture officers are already underway and their reports will be submitted to the State government. Accordingly, measures will be taken to support farmers who are losing their crop,” an Agriculture official said.