Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Krishna delta poised to reap bumper crop

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA OCT. 25. Krishna delta is poised to create a record of sorts by reaping paddy crop on almost the entire area making use of only about 60 tmcft of water in this kharif season against the normal 180 tmcft. Farmers raised the crop depending more on local rainfall than canal water. Also, transplantation has been staggered over three months (August-October) this year against the normal one month making officials worry on two counts. Firstly, they have to continue supply in canals for two more months (till January-end) to meet the needs of the late-transplanted crop. Secondly, they have to prevent farmers from raising second crop paddy by making use of the extended water supply in canals.

The Bachawat Tribunal has allotted 180 tmcft of water for the 150-year-old Krishna delta (80 tmcft to be released from Nagarjunasagar and 100 tmcft from the catchment lying below). The delta is spread over 12 lakh acres in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and West Godavari districts. While canal water would meet 60 per cent needs of the delta, local rainfall should take care of the remaining 40 per cent.

In this background, the kharif season started on a gloomy note with no rainfall in June and July and poor inflows in the river. Farmers could raise crop only on less than 50,000 acres making use of borewells till July-end. The situation improved slightly with the Palair and the Munneru receiving floodwaters during August which helped farmers transplant the crop on about two lakh acres. The situation has improved tremendously with the delta receiving rain in September and October which helped farmers transplant the crop on 4.62 lakh acres against the normal 5.5 lakh acres. The delta has received heavy rainfall in the last few days in the wake of low pressure in the Bay of Bengal with the result they faced drainage problem.

As officials are still releasing water into the canals, it helped fish farmers to fill their tanks in the Kaikalur area. All drinking water tanks too were filled to the brim in the delta.

Speaking to The Hindu here today, the District Collector, K. Prabhakara Reddy, expected that transplantation would continue till October-end. He said only about 50,000 acres might be left fallow for want of water in this kharif season in Krishna Eastern delta. He, however, said the canals would be closed by January and warned farmers against raising second crop paddy.

He said the delta had used only 43 tmcft till now (21 tmcft was released from Nagarjunasagar, 22 tmcft came from intermediate catchment area). As they may have to supply water till January, they need 20 tmcft more water.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Krishna delta poised to reap bumper crop
• Deepavali tragedy: two killed
• Cong. leader's package for weavers puts TDP in a fix
• Cong. bus yatra from Nov. 3
• Advani all praise for Naidu's bid for Olympics
• `No alternative to talks with PW'
• PW threat forces TDP leaders to quit
• Telangana veteran dead
• A major blow to PW
• Paying a price for praising IOA bosses sky-high?

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu