Guntur ryots produce pegged at Rs 3079cr in FY06

Farmers of Guntur district, helped by government's schemes, loans and subsidies, produced food and cash crops worth about Rs 3,079 crore during the financial year 2005-06, said P Ajit Kumar, joint director of agriculture.

Farmers produced 17 main kharif (first) crops worth Rs 2,557 crore and 18 main rabi (second) crops worth Rs 522 crore. While the kharif crop area increased to 5,68,120 hectares (normal crop area 5,18,906 hectare), the rabi crop area decreased to 1,82,889 hectare (normal crop area 2,36,719 hectares).

He said paddy crop dominated the rabi season with farmers producing 2.66 lakh tonne of paddy in 28,249 hectare worth Rs 111.30 crore. About 0.73 lakh tonne of blackgram (96,372 hectare) worth Rs 226.30 crore was harvested in the district.

Farmers also produced 1.33 lakh tonne of maize worth Rs 71.2 crore in 23,839 hectare, 0.16 lakh tonne of groundnut worth Rs 24.32 crore in 5,338 hectare, 0.04 lakh tonne of greengram worth Rs 10.80 crore in 5,933 hectare and 0.1 lakh tonne of bengalgram worth Rs 28 crore in 6,753 hectare.

The other crops harvested in the rabi season were 0.009 lakh tonne of redgram (Rs 1.44 crore) in 913 hectare, 0.002 lakh tonne of sesamum (Rs 31 lakh) in 426 hectare, 0.001 lakh tonne of castor (Rs 18 lakh) in 63 hectare, 0.003 lakh tonne of sunflower (Rs 36 lakh) in 293 hectare, 0.005 lakh tonne of rape & mustard (Rs 50 lakh) in 1,147 hectare, 0.055 lakh tonne of tobacco (Rs 7.95 crore) in 2,587 hectare, 0.35 lakh tonne of fruits, vegetables, coriander and onion (Rs 24.50 crore) in 7,000 hectare.

Kumar said paddy production in 2,88,879 hectare during kharif was 22.18 lakh tonne worth Rs 1,067.20 crore.

It was followed by 2.13 lakh tonne of chillies worth Rs 745.50 crore raised in 41,126 hectare. The third major crop in kharif was cotton (1,52,978 hectare), which stood at 2.24 lakh tonne worth Rs 425.60 crore. The fourth largest crop was redgram at 0.31 lakh tonne grown in 35,367 hectare worth Rs 49.60 crore.

Farmers gathered fruits (6,000 hectare) worth Rs 120 crore and 0.251 lakh tonne of turmeric (5,219 hectare) worth Rs 55.22 crore. About 0.80 lakh tonne of vegetables and orchards produce (16,000 hectare) fetched Rs 64 crore.

The other crops harvested in kharif were 1.56 lakh tonne of sugarcane (1,953 hectare) worth Rs 10.83 crore, 0.031 lakh tone of castor (6,869 hectare) worth Rs 5.43 crore, 0.004 lakh tonne of jowar (202 hectare) worth Rs 36 lakh, 0.01 lakh tonne of bajra (796 hectare) worth Rs 60 lakh, 0.051 lakh tonne of maize (1,617 hectare) worth Rs 2.75 crore, 0.02 lakh tonne of greengram (3,852 hectare) worth Rs 5.40 crore, 0.005 lakh tonne of blackgram (1,243 hectare) worth Rs 1.55 crore, 0.003 lakh tonne of groundnut (235 hectare) worth Rs 46 lakh, 0.006 lakh tonne of sesamum (4,263 hectare) worth Rs 93 lakh, 0.011 lakh tonne of soyabean (1,521 hectare) worth Rs 2.42 crore and 0.031 lakh tonne of castor (6,869 hectare) valued at Rs 5.43 crore.