VIJAYAWADA: Like last July, Andhra Pradesh is witnessing more than normal rainfall this month. The state as of date has 25.3 per cent surplus rainfall with five of the 13 districts reporting excess rainfall, five districts normal rainfall and three districts ‘large excess’ rainfall.
Against the normal rainfall of 217.2 mm, the state has received 272.2 mm rains so far. Among 670 mandals in the state, only two mandals reported ‘large deficient’ rainfall and 67 mandals deficient rainfall. The average groundwater level in the state is 9.67 meters below ground level (mbgl), which is 4.76 mbgl better than that on the same day last year.
According to the statistics with the Andhra Pradesh State Development Planning Society (APSDPS), by the end of July 2020, the state received 225.1 mm rainfall against normal rainfall of 151.3 mm with a surplus of 48.8 per cent. Though the surplus rainfall might not touch last year's figure, the State will have excess rainfall by the end of this July.
Out of the 670 mandals, 186 mandals received more than 60 per cent surplus rainfall, while 210 received surplus rainfall between 20 to 59 per cent and 205 mandals normal rainfall. Chittoor, Kadapa and Anantapur have received ‘large excess’ rains, while West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Kurnool district are in the excess category. Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and Nellore are in the normal category.
Among the districts, Kadapa tops the list with 101.1 per cent surplus rainfall, followed by Anantapur district with 88.2 per cent surplus, Chittoor with 76.2 per cent and Kurnool with 51.2 per cent. It should be noted that all these four districts are in Rayalaseema region, one of the drought-prone regions in the country. In fact, the improvement in groundwater levels in Rayalaseema is better than that in Coastal region of the state. Rayalaseema has an average groundwater level of 10.40 mbgl today, which is 8.64 mbgl better than that on the same day last year. Comparatively, coastal Andhra Pradesh has an average groundwater level of 9.11 mbgl, 1.93 mbgl better than that on the same day last year.
As per agriculture department reports, as on July 20, sowing in 10.07 lakh hectares was done as against the normal area (as of date) of 15.16 lakh hectares. That is, only 66 per cent of the normal sowing took place in the state.
If crop-wise details are taken into consideration, 62 per cent (against normal) sowing of coarse grains (paddy, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi etc), 40 per cent sowing of pulses (red gram, green gram, black gram etc), 58 per cent sowing of oilseeds (groundnut, sesame, castor, sunflower etc), 78 per cent (against normal) sowing of cotton, 31 per cent (against normal) of sugarcane and 90 per cent (against normal) of onion was done.
