With 46 rainy days, the drought-prone Prakasam district registered 40% excess rainfall till October first week, after a gap of several years.
Added to this, major reservoirs in the Krishna basin, including Nagarjunasagar which irrigates over 1.60 lakh hectares in the district, were filled to the brim. Despite this, the crop coverage during kharif season fell short by 12% in the rain-fed district for various reasons.
The Agriculture Department is leaving no stone unturned to make up for the shortfall during winter, as both kharif and rabi cropping seasons overlap in the district, which had been in the grip of drought for several years in the past, including a 15% deficit rainfall during last year. The district recorded a rainfall of 548.3 mm as against the normal rainfall of 456.6 mm.
Bengal gram, the pulse crop grown as an alternative to tobacco, is likely to see a surge in acreage during Rabi this year in the wake of the Tobacco Board's decision to cut down on tobacco cultivation in the traditional tobacco growing areas in the district in view of the depressed global market condition for the principal commercial crop.
Overseeing registration of the names of ryots at the Rythu Bharosa centres for distribution of subsidised seeds, Agriculture Joint Director P.V. Sriramamurthy said farmers should switch over to alternatives like jowar, black gram, etc., as they might burn their fingers if they grew bengal gram in more than the normal acreage of about 80,000 hectares during winter.
With 23,336 hectares under paddy, the coverage was 98% during kharif thanks to the good inflow into Krishna Western Delta and Nagarjunasagar Right Bank branch canals this year. However, the area under red gram, the principal pulse crop grown during kharif, fell to about 80,000 hectares, a dip of 13% over the normal extent.
The overall pulse crop coverage, including black gram, green gram and horse gram, was 88% of the normal acreage 1,00,000 hectarea, according to a report compiled by the Agriculture Department. Cotton cultivation was taken up in 31,671 hectares so far as against the normal extent of 38,210 hectares and chilli in 25,612 hectares as against normal acreage of 28,598 hectares.
