The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Rainfall spurs farm operations

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Monday, Jul 28, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Rainfall spurs farm operations

S. Harpal Singh

Sowings taken up in 4.2 lakh hectares as against normal of 4 lakh hectares

Paddy sowings in about 2,000 hectares possible
Rainfall deficit has been downscaled to 36 p.c.

Business as usual: Paddy being transplanted near Adilabad.

ADILABAD: The rainfall of last five days has fully revived agriculture operations so far as dry irrigated crops are concerned in Adilabad district. The overall scenario according to Agriculture officials is very encouraging with sowings taken up in 4.2 lakh hectares as against the normal of about 4 lakh hectares making it a high of 105 per cent as on date.

Paddy sowings in about 2,000 hectares under rainfed and open and bore well irrigation was also possible as a result of the rainfall.

Deficit

Though the rainfall deficit has been downscaled to 36 per cent, it still is a matter of concern. Sowing under irrigated conditions was still not possible, as the projects have not received encouraging inflows as yet.

Sowing is dismal in the entire Godavari belt mandals of Kadem, Khanapur, Jannaram, Dandepalli, Luxettipet and Mancherial where intensive paddy cultivation is taken up because of availability of water through Kadem project canals. Transplantation has been done in only about 1,100 hectares against a normal area of over 42,500 hectares.

“There is still about a fortnight to go before hope is given away completely. In any case short duration varieties of paddy can be sown even by mid August. We have seeds of SRI, MTU 0101, JGL 1798 and JGL 384 short duration paddy crop being sold through APSEEDS and under seed village scheme,” informs V. Ramchandra Reddy, the Joint Director of Agriculture.

Soyabean is another major crop in the district that has registered an increase in the normal cropped area. Against last year’s 70,000 hectares, this cash crop has been cultivated in about 1 lakh hectares this season. The reason being the anticipation of attractive price that the produce is likely to fetch in the market later this year.

Fertilizer supply

Regarding the short supply of fertilizers, the Joint Director said about 5,500 tonnes of additional quantity of fertilizers will be made available soon.

He said against the requirement of about 30,000 tonnes this season about 35,000 tonnes of DAP and other complex fertilizers have already been supplied in the district.

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