India's youngest Telangana turns rice bowl of India

Hyderabad: Telangana is on way to emerge as the rice bowl of India with the rice production reaching 1.3 crore tonnes during 2019-20.

With the completion of new irrigation projects and the increase in irrigation land, the production increased by more than 20 per cent over the previous year.

Telangana, which grows rice in about 14.19 lakh hectares, saw huge improvement in production ever since it was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The rice production, which stood at 29.6 lakh tonnes in 2015-16, rose to 51.7 lakh tonnes in 2016-17 and to 62.5 lakh tonnes in 2017-18.

India's youngest state also accounted for about 63 per cent of Food Corporation of India's (FCI) total paddy procurement across the country till date. According to a report by Federation of Telangana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI), the State recorded a big jump in rice production, mainly due to the fact that more than 60 lakh acres of additional land were brought under irrigation.

This was possible with the completion of many major and minor irrigation projects such as Kaleshwaram project, Devadula Project and revival of tanks under Mission Kakatiya. In a report titled as 'Rice exports from Telangana: Opportunities and way forward' the industry body said availability of water coupled with 24X7 free power supply to farmers contributed to substantial improvement in productivity and production of food grains and pulses.

Considering the record paddy production, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao recently directed the officials to construct an additional 40 lakh tonnes capacity warehouses and form 2,500 farmer groups. "Under projects, tanks and borewells, there is a possibility of having two crops in 1.45 crore acres and three crops in 10 lakh acres. Then the Telangana State will become the rice bowl of India. The yield will be doubled in the years to come," he said.

The FTCCI report, however, noted that despite the high level of rice production, when it comes to exports, the state's figures are negligible compared to other States. The report identified high transportation cost for exporters, high levels of pesticide residue in rice produced here, lack of proper warehousing facilities and the shift in cultivation of paddy variety from long grain to short grain as the main reasons for low exports from the state.

Telangana, which exported 10,425 tonnes during 2019-20, accounted for just 0.21 per cent of the total exports of 5.08 million tonnes at national level. Andhra Pradesh, during the same period, exported 16.9 lakh tonnes, which is 33.6 per cent of the total exports.