Krishna delta farmers get ready for kharif cultivation

Vijayawada: The farming community in Krishna district is getting ready for paddy cultivation in kharif season. With moderate to heavy rains lashing Krishna delta in the last three days, the farmers got encouragement to make the seed beds ready.

The paddy is cultivated in 14 lakh acres in Krishna delta in Krishna, Guntur, West Godavari and some parts of Prakasam district. The government has plans to release water from river Godavari after a week.

The agriculture department made elaborate arrangements to start kharif from June 15. The water resources department planned to release water from Godavari from June 12. The Krishna district administration directed the officials to get ready to release water in canals.

According to officials, the water would reach Krishna river from Godavari on June 15. Immediately after water reaches Krishna river from Godavari, it would be released from Prakasam Barrage to canals in Krishna delta. Indeed, the government wanted to release water from June 1 but the water release schedule has been postponed to June 15 as there was no sufficient water reserves in the upstream projects.

However, the government resumed its plan following recent rains. With only two tmcft of water is available in Pulichintala project, the government wants to release water directly from Godavari and Pulichintala.

As per estimations, nearly 10 tmcft of water is required for seed beds in Krishna delta. The water resources department could release water in the next one month for preparing seed beds, said assistant engineer D Madhusudana Rao.

Speaking to The Hans India, he said the recent rains are sufficient for seed beds. Already the farming community in Eastern Krishna started work on seed bed, he said and added the situation seems that the rains would be sufficient, and water could be released for delta needs.