Farmers Hopes For Good Rabi Cro Shattered in Khammam

Like the last four years, the farmers’ hopes of good rabi yields, especially after they witnessed a disappointing kharif season, are likely to take a dent due to deficient rainfall and inaccurate power supply.

The crisis would have been much worse had not the agriculture department warned the farmers in the district to cut down the acreage while advising them to go for irrigated dry (ID) crops. Cautioned by the agriculture department’s advice, the farmers lowered their acreage of cultivation from 87,000 hectares to 60,000 hectares.

The average rainfall that is expected in the district by December 2014 is 1,020 mm. However, the district had received just 750 mm of rainfall. Coverage of paddy is down by at least 10,000 hectares against the expected area of 36,000 hectares. With no groundwater available in most of the places and very little supplies of water available from Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) Left Canal, the farmers are in for a huge trouble.

“Sensing the danger of inadequate water resources and looming power crisis, we have advised the farmers well in advance to cut down the acreage,” Joint Director of Agriculture V.B. Bhaskar Rao told The Hans India on Sunday.

The precarious water situation in Nagarjunasagar dam and the rift over water sharing between the AP and Telangana governments have left the farmers worried over the fate of their rabi yields as they need water supplies till the last week of April.