ONGOLE: Expecting that the southwest monsoon would hit the State well in advance as forecasted by the IMD, the farmers of Prakasam district are gearing up to begin Kharif cultivation.
In this connection, the district agricultural department has submitted its seed indent to the State government requesting for a requirement of around 8,893 quintals of seeds of various varieties.
The officials are estimating that around 1.72 lakh hectares of land, including tobacco cultivation in around 40,000 hectares, will be cultivated in the next Kharif season in all 38 mandals of the district.
The previous year, tobacco growers enhanced their crop cultivation up to 32,000 hectares against the permissible 27,345 hectares as the buyers are offering the highest price in the international market.
Though the actual estimated cultivation during Kharif season is around 2.17 lakh hectares in the district, last year, the farmers cultivated various crops in an area of 1.49 lakh hectares, which is 69 per cent of the expected extent. This year, with favourable climatic conditions and early onset of southwest monsoon, the agricultural department is estimating that the farmers would cultivate in around 2.02 lakh hectares of land.
“The district authorities prepared the estimations assuming that paddy cultivation would be taken up in around 10,000 hectares of land. Accordingly, the officials have submitted the indent for 4,000 quintals of paddy seed stock. Along with this, a total of 667 quintals of green manure seeds, including the sesbania seeds, baby black gram seeds, and jute seeds are likely to be procured,” said S Srinivasa Rao, joint director of agriculture department.