Rabi paddy sowing to be higher in Telangana, AP

Improved rainfall augured well for paddy sowing in south Telangana, Godavari districts and Krishna in Andhra Pradesh

After the initial hiccups, the kharif paddy acreage shortfall in Telangana and Andhra's rice bowl districts has narrowed down and the prospects of a better rabi sowing is gaining ground among the farming communities in both states.

Improved rainfall from August-mid till last week this month augured well for paddy sowing in south Telangana, Godavari districts and Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, effectively bringing down the combined deficit to around 15 per cent.

As against the kharif target of 1 million ha, sowing was done in around 700,000 ha in Telangana and 675,000 ha (as against a target of 727,000 ha) in the key paddy-growing regions of Andhra, according to the department of agriculture.

“We saw a huge pick-up in paddy sowing starting from August-mid. However, many farmers in Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Adilabad have gone for irrigated dry crops such as soya bean, cotton, maize by the fag end of July,” said J Dharma Naik, additional director in the department Agriculture, Telangana.

With a likely delayed withdrawal of southwest monsoon and with rains still happening in many parts of the state, Naik said the standing crops would see a good harvest, and added, rabi crops would also gain from the improving soil moisture.

A joint director in the agri department said with improved power situation in Telangana, they were advising farmers to opt for paddy in the rabi season. “This would help cover the shortfall in paddy acreage witnessed this kharif,” he added.

According to a report of the directorate of Economics and Statistics published in August, Telangana and Andhra had surplus foodgrains. The report suggested major foodgrains, including rice, jowar, ragi and bajra registered higher production across Telangana in both kharif and rabi seasons last year.

When contacted, a senior official of the agri marketing committee in Hyderabad said there was no scarcity of rice in the retail markets as both Andhra and Telangana had a surplus crop in the last kharif and rabi.

He further said the Food Corporation of India (FCI) had so far procured around 31.542 million tonne rice as on Sept 19, 2014, for its Oct 2013-Sept 2014 procurement season, as against the target of 34 million tonne. The shortfall was due to a drop in sowing in Telangana, Andhra and Odisha.