WORKING HARD: Women engaged in paddy transplantation in Adilabad district

ADILABAD: Presenting a picture in contrast, transplantation of paddy picked up momentum in Adilabad district thanks to the heavy rainfall it received this month. Officials of the Agriculture Department expect the transplantation to be done in over 53,000 hectares which is normally under paddy cultivation barring the drought years. Already, paddy has been transplanted in about 4,000 hectares. "The area under paddy is likely to go up slightly because all the water bodies are brimming with water," an official said. However, inundation of fields has put other crops like cotton and soyabean in danger of being destroyed. It is estimated that thousands of acres of cotton and soyabean crops were hit.

Area under cotton cultivation has declined to 1.43 lakh hectares as against the normal 1.66 lakh hectares. Soyabean cultivation increased to 96,000 hectares which is 30,000 hectares more than that of last year. "There is every likelihood of sucking pest attacking the crop. Use of pesticide will be necessitated at that stage," said A. Sudarshanam, Agriculture Scientist at the local Agriculture Research Station.

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