 "Improbable plans in a pro-farmer Budget")
Higher target set for the food grain production was primarily based on the increased crop area anticipated in Kharif and Rabi seasons owing to the expected normal rain fall as well as the improved availability of water in command areas in 2016-17.
The state has a gross irrigated area of 4 million hectares out of which 50 per cent area gets irrigated under the canal system while about 1.6 million hectares of land is dependent of ground water. Paddy is grown in over 30 percent of the available irrigated area while groundnut, maize and pulses are among the other major crops grown in the state. Unlike in Telangana, both Kharif and Rabi seasons play equally significant role in food grain production in AP. Yield levels are found to be a tad better in Rabi than in Kharif season, say AP officials.
According to the estimates made by the agriculture department, the total crop area under food grain crops is expected to be 7.11 million hectares in 2016-17, about 5.20 per cent higher than the normal crop area of last year.
Due to the lack of sufficient water under the canal system on top of deficient rain fall recorded in several district in the last rainy season, the state had witnessed 10 per cent fall in crop area to 6.12 million hectares last year. Consequently the total food grain production had also come down to 13.96 million tonnes as compared with 16 million tonnes achieved in the year 2014-15.
A 10 per cent increase has been projected for the food grain production this year compared to a near normal production achieved in the year 2014-15.
There has been a spurt in production of pulses, groundnut and maize in the last Kharif and Rabi seasons despite the drought conditions. This was because the farmers have gone for these alternate crops in place of paddy due to decreased water availability, according to the officials.
As the farmers had got good returns from these alternate crops, the pulses production is expected to go up by 30 percent in the ensuing Kharif and Rabi seasons. The department has set a production target of 1.6 million tonnes for pulses as compared to 1.1 million tonnes last year.
The government has also set a higher target for the disbursement of crop loans in 2016-17. Last year the banks had granted Rs 61,876 crore loans to farm sector. This include term loans amounting to Rs 24,059 crore. This time the government has asked the banks to increase the credit flow to farm sector by 30 per cent to about Rs 81,000 crore.
As per the advance estimates of the year 2014-15, agriculture was accounted for 27.59 per cent of the state gross domestic product (GSDP) for that year.
