Rajamahendravaram: Farmers readying for Rabi in advance

Rajamahendravaram: The farming community in the district is preparing for Rabi cultivation in advance keeping in view the possible water scarcity in the days to come. It is planning to cultivate high yield paddy varieties in the season. Paddy will be cultivated in 1.7 lakh hectares during this season, as against of 2.32 lakh hectares.

The farmers are ready for transplantation of paddy saplings which is the first stage for paddy cultivation and they are also considering make use of machines to save time and money.

As the water supply to canals stops in the last week of March, the farmers are planning to cultivate paddy crop prior to that. The farmers are showing interest to cultivate MTU varieties of 1121, 1153 and 1156 paddy to get high yield. They are very much particular to complete transplantation by the first week of February.

Meanwhile, many farmers are thinking to handover the task of works relating to paddy cultivation to West Bengal workers to save money. The West Bengal coolies are charging an amount of Rs, 3000 per acre of transplantation of paddy saplings.