Prospects for Telangana farmers during the current rabi season continue to be bleak. The total area as on Wednesday was way below the average area of 9.61 lakh hectares.
According to latest figures, farmers could sow only on 65 per cent of the average area of 9.61 lakh hectares that they would have sown by now. The State has a total cropped area of 13 lakh hectares in the rabi season.
Paddy, which generally takes half the rabi area, is the worst hit. “Farmers would have sown paddy in 3.50 lakh hectares by now. But they could cover 1.61 lakh ha or 48 per cent of the average sown area,” a senior government official told
Seeing bleak prospects for paddy in the season, the Government has advised the farmers not to go for the water-intensive crop. Instead, the Government has asked farmers to choose irrigated dry crops that require less water. But such crops have not fared any better either.
Power crisisDwindling groundwater levels and a crisis in the power situation offer no reprieve to the farmers. The power-starved State is planning to provide power six hours a day to the farm sector. Not a single crop has crossed average (as on Wednesday) levels. Maize, suggested as one of the alternatives by the Government, was sown on about 80 per cent of the normal area of 1.50 lakh ha. Bengal gram (69 per cent), groundnut (76 per cent) and chillies (78 per cent) are the other crops that have fared badly this season.