Rain deficit hits Kharif cultivation across State

Vijayawada: Rainfall deficiency is showing a severe impact on the cultivation of crops across the State. Due to this scarcity of rainfall, cultivation of over 21 sorts of crops including paddy is getting delayed, forcing the farmers to suffer a lot.

According to the data, crops are cultivated in an extent of 35.75 lakh acres across the State in every Kharif season, wherein paddy is cultivated in over 15.55 lakh acres. In addition to paddy, jowar, maize, Ragi, minor millets, red gram, green gram, black gram and other food grains are cultivated in 5.51 lakh acres. Apart from that, oilseeds such as groundnut, sesame, sunflower and soybean are harvested in 7.48 lakh acres and cotton, sugarcane and tobacco crops are cultivated in the extent of 7 lakh acres.

However, according to the GoAP Season and Crop Coverage Report, the crop sowing (all crops) has been completed in just 2.41 lakh acres. The sowing percentage is 7 per cent so far.

Paddy cultivation hugely affected Paddy cultivation, the major food grain that is cultivated in almost all the districts in the State (except four urban districts) has been curtailed hugely during this Kharif season. From Srikakulam to Nandyal district, it is cultivated largely every year, mainly in kharif. While paddy targeted area will be 15.88 lakh acres in every kharif, cultivated area will be approximately 15.52 lakh acres.

However, during this Kharif season, paddy sowing is completed in just 92,000 acres across the State as of July second week. It is a known fact that paddy is the most water-intensive crop compared to other crops, which needs huge quantities of water.

Last year during kharif season, it was 3.20 lakh acres at the same time. Water should be kept standing throughout the growth period. In general rule, paddy crop needs 10 mm of water per day. On account of this, paddy is cultivated mainly in rainy season, unlike other food grains and oilseeds.

Due to the deficiency of rain in this kharif season, paddy cultivation is sluggish. Normally, paddy cultivation would be at a brisk pace in every July due to the availability of water and abundant rains. Apart from paddy, groundnut is cultivated in around 6.44 lakh acres across the State. In contrast, in this Kharif season, the sowing of groundnut was completed in just 49,000 acres. Likewise, all food grains, commercial crops, and oilseeds crop cultivations also saw an abrupt decrease.