NALGONDA: The area under paddy cultivation as well as the yield had decreased in 2023 and is expected to decline further in 2024 compared to the previous rabi seasons from 2019 to 2022 in Nalgonda district due to water scarcity and lack of rainfall during the monsoon.
Rabi crops are generally sown around mid-November and December and harvesting begins by April or May. In the 2022 rabi season, paddy was cultivated in 5,56,637 acres, whereas in 2023, it was cultivated in 4,20,523 acres, marking a decrease of about 1,30,000 acres.
Regarding crop yield, agriculture officials have estimated that only eight lakh metric tonnes of grain will be harvested in 2024, compared to about 10 lakh metric tonnes of grain harvested in the 2023 rabi season.
With groundwater levels in the villages decreasing and borewells and open wells drying up, farmers reportedly were unable to plant half the area of their farms with crops. Farmers are resorting to supplying water through tankers to preserve the harvested crop, while in other areas, dried crops are being fed to cattle.
Additionally, some are resorting to burning the dry crops. A crop holiday was also declared due to the lack of water in the Nagarjuna Sagar project.
Meanwhile, farmers who have harvested their crops and transported them to nearby Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) procurement centres and market yards said that the government has not yet started purchasing the crops as the harvest remains incomplete in many areas.
In the last rabi season, the government had purchased 6,91,779 metric tonnes of grain through 260 procurement centres. However, it is estimated that only five lakh metric tonnes of paddy will reach these centres this time.
Nalgonda District Agriculture Officer Shravan Kumar informed TNIE that proposals regarding paddy cultivation area, crop yield, and the establishment of purchase centres in the district have been forwarded to the relevant department officials. He noted that in the previous monsoon season, Nalgonda district had recorded 569.9mm of rainfall, a decrease of 19.2% compared to the normal average of 705.4 millimetres.