New cropping patterns to boost yield in Telangana

Cropping patterns in the largely dry Telangana are likely to change, shoring up farm production from India’s youngest State.

The State government has initiated a move to undertake a first of its kind detailed land resource inventory through elaborate and bio-resources mapping.

'This data, which will help identify crops suitable to different soil types in the State, will then form the basis for kharif and rabi cropping patterns.

The Government has assigned the task of preparing the inventory to the Professor Jayashankar of the Telangana State Agricultural University.

The university has selected some mandals in Mahbubnagar, Medak and Adilabad districts for a pilot project.

“We have started collecting the data and we expect to complete the inventory for these mandals by April. We hope this data will help design new cropping patterns here for the ensuing kharif,” D Raji Reddy, Director of Research at the university, said. After this pilot project, the programme will be extended to the rest of the State and the complete inventory for all the districts could be ready in a couple of years.

The programme, which is estimated to cost about ₹20 crore, is being undertaken with the help of National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning.

The entire exercise will see land mapping of the State on a scale of 1:10,000.

“We will be collecting over 70,000 soil samples from all over the State, which will give us the different characteristics of soil in different districts,” Reddy told BusinessLine.

The inventory will not only help identify suitable crops for different regions, but also help in identifying the kind of intervention necessary to increase farm yield.

It will also assist agricultural planners to decide what kind of irrigation facilities, such as micro or drip irrigation, were suited for different districts.

“We will be examining the soil samples from 18 to 19 different parameters to measure the precise health and characteristics of the soil,” he said.