The State government is focused on various technological interventions in water management for paddy cultivation and reduce water input, enhance water productivity and gain yield, said Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy. Responding to a query by T. Chinnapa Reddy in the Legislative Council here on Wednesday, Mr. Niranjan Reddy said that the Agriculture University and department were exploring better ways to produce more paddy with less utilisation of irrigated water. He said every year the extent of cultivation of paddy was increasing with 48 lakh acres in Kharif and 38 lakh acres now under Rabi season. After formation of Telangana, the Agriculture university promoted paddy varieties with 120-day crop duration instead of 150 days. The saving of one month in paddy cultivation resulted in saving of water and mandays, thus bringing down investment.
Once Kaleswaram and other irrigation projects were completed, the government’s aim was to utilise surface water, keeping the groundwater table intact. Further varieties suitable to less irrigation input and drought tolerant with reasonable yield potential were also in evolving stage. Research in developing high yield potential rice hybrids suitable to the State was undergoing, he said.
He said that alternate wetting and drying water management in rice was being promoted in ground water and canal commands of erstwhile districts of Telangana — Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Warangal, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Khammam, Ranga Reddy and Medak which saved nearly 35 per cent of water input in rice compared to low land flood irrigation.
Mr. Reddy said with climate smart and water resilient production practice, the water usage to produce one kg of paddy with State’s average productivity of seven tonnes per hectare now ranged between 1,200 to 2,500 litres under different production systems as per the recent studies. He also said in China the water usage was 1,321 litres per kg of paddy.
