Farmers reap benefits from cotton to chickpea switch-over

Farmers reap benefits from  cotton to chickpea switch-over
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Pithapuram: Cultivation of chickpea is proving to be profitable to farmers as evidenced by increase in the area of cultivation under the crop which multiplied manifold this year compared to that of last year. The farmers have been anticipating a bumper harvest.

Pithapuram: Cultivation of chickpea is proving to be profitable to farmers as evidenced by increase in the area of cultivation under the crop which multiplied manifold this year compared to that of last year. The farmers have been anticipating a bumper harvest.

As an alternative to cotton, East Godavari district farmers switched over to chickpea since input costs are low. The crop is free from pest menace and it also has a tendency to improve fertility of the soil.

The area under the crop, which was 283 hectares last season, increased to 1325 hectares this year.

Farmers in various mandals, including Gollaprolu, Rangampet, Gandepalli, Jaggampet, Peddapuram, Sitanagaram, Korukonda, Prattipadu, Routulapudi, Devipattanam, Kunavaram and Addateegala, are hopeful of reaping a good harvest.

Because of water scarcity, farmers took precautions to not to go in for water-intensive varieties and opted for chickpea cultivation. Market for chickpeas is also very good. Pithapuram Additional Director Agriculture, Padmasri, and Agriculture Officer Jayaramalakshmi, stated that the crop yield was encouraging and has surpassed the official estimates.

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