Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Farmers in upbeat mood over prospects of commercial crops

Farm hands busy sorting and drying hilli at Nallapadu near Guntur.

GUNTUR: Vagaries of nature may have dampened the mood of farmers in the district with fears lingering over decrease in the yield, but the first signs in the yield of commercial crops are already indicating towards a record production.

The prolonged drought which delayed the sowing operations in kharif last year meant that the acreage has decreased by about 20,000 acres. The total area sown in kharif during 2008-2009 is 8.37 lakh hectares and it had decreased to 8.17 lakh hectares during the year 2009-2010. Out of the total acreage, rice alone accounted for 3.12 lakh hectares in the year 2009-2010 and the cultivable area had gone by 20,000 hectares when compared to that of last year. Joint Director of Agriculture I. Ramakrishna Murthy, who has been conferred with the best JD award recently, attributed it to the delay in sowing operations in NSP Canal ayacut area. But that did not seem to dishearten farmers as the paddy yield has increased by nearly 1.5 lakh MT. As against the total yield of 11.48 lakh MT in the year 2008-2009, the paddy yield has shot up to 12.96 MT in 2009-2010. The drought, however, seems to have hit the prospects of cotton farmers as the yield had been reduced by 1.25 lakh MT. As against the total yield of 6.61 lakh MT in the year 2008-2009, the yield has fallen to 5.36 lakh MT in the year 2009-2010.

In comparison, chilli farmers are smiling as both the acreage and production have shot up considerably. The yield has shot up by 40,000 MT and the acreage too has increased by about 40,000 hectares. In the year 2008-2009, statistics available with the Agriculture Department showed that, chilli was sown in 63, 628 hectares and the cultivable area went up by 67, 867 hectares.

Even cultivation of pulses too has gone up. The cultivation of red gram, which was at 19,066 hectares in the year 2008-2009, has shot up by 36, 051 hectares, while the yield went up by 22,000 MT. The yield has gone up in black gram too.

The Joint Director also said that department had ensured seed availability throughout the year and streamlined the distribution of fertilizers.

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