HYDERABAD: Two weeks of dry spell has become a cause for worry across the State even as 89 per cent of sowing has already been done on par with the normal area of sowing for the current Vaanakalam crop season. While net irrigated area is 54.61 lakh acres as per 2019-20 estimates of the Irrigation Department, the State government’s ambitious plan to reach 1,40,12,446 acres of cultivation this season looks like an uphill task, with water-logging caused by last month’s floods, continuous dry spell this month and rainfall predictions not being very encouraging for the next 72 hours.
As per the data furnished by the Agriculture Department, cotton has been sown in 50,21,923 acres till now and transplantation of paddy is still going on, with its area sown presently being 32,60,754 acres.The area of cultivation for coarse cereals, including jowar, bajra, maize, ragi and minor millets, has not been able to reach their normal cultivable area for the past three years — 11,67,739 acres in 2019-20, 3,41,440 acres in 2020-21 and 6,55,308 acres in 2021-22. However, they form a significant part in Yasangi season.
Oilseeds including groundnut, sesame, sunflower, castor and soybean have also not been able to reach their normal sown area in the past three years — 5,25,396 acres in 2019-20, 4,67,802 acres in 2020-21 and 3,72,594 acres in 2021-22. This is above the State government’s plan of achieving 2,01,344 acres of cultivation this Vaanakalam season. The government is planning to encourage farmers to go for more oilseed cultivation in the coming Yasangi season.
A deteriorating situation is being observed in sugarcane cultivation, which has significantly come down from 61,647 acres in 2019-20 to 37,672 acres in 2020-21 and 31,485 acres in 2021-22. However, it is in line with the Agriculture Department’s plan to achieve 37,700 acres for this Vaanakalam. On the positive side, the total area of cultivation reached 1,04,22,993 acres till August 11, as compared to 89,76,763 acres on the same day last year. Wanaparthy, Suryapet, Mulugu and Gadwal districts have achieved 44, 42, 47 and 57 per cent of cultivation respectively, for crops sown as against the normal area of sowing in those districts till now.