Guntur, farmers prove pundits' forecast wrong

Disproving the agri pundits' estimation of poor crop yields, farmers of Guntur and Krishna districts harvested various crops worth Rs 4,257 crore during the kharif (first crop) and rabi (second crop) seasons of 2004-05 fiscal.

While the Guntur district farmers produced crops worth Rs 3,044 crore, their counterparts in Krishna district raised crops worth Rs 1,213.34 crore in the 2004-05 fiscal.

The former produced crops worth Rs 2,566 crore during kharif and reaped crops worth Rs 478 crore in rabi. The latter's respective crop turnovers were Rs 917.86 crore (kharif) and Rs 2.95.48 crore (rabi).

Speaking to Business Standard, C Ranga Reddy, deputy director (agriculture), Guntur district, said that farmers cultivated crops in 5,68,110 hectares (normal area 5,66,557 hectares) during kharif and in reduced 1,16,011 hectares (normal area 2,46,134) during rabi.

"The farmers harvested 12.29 lakh tonnes of paddy in 2,40,404 hectares, 2.5 lakh tonnes of chillies in 55,534 hectares, 3.07 lakh tonnes of cotton (kapas) in 1,77,867 hectares, 0.293 lakh tonnes of redgram in 31,557 hectares, .031 lakh tonnes of greengram in 8,486 hectares, 0.75 lakh tonnes of vegetables in 15,000 hectares and 0.30 lakh tonnes of sesamum in 8,839 hectares," he said.

According to Reddy, despite reeling under dry spell for the third consecutive year, the farmers reaped 0.012 lakh tonnes of jowar in 1,797 hectares, 0.048 tonnes of bajra in 5,824 hectares, 0.077 lakh tonnes of maize in 2,749 hectares, 0.005 lakh tonnes of blackgram in 1,039 hectares, 0.002 lakh tonnes of groundnut in 184 hectares, 0.0363 lakh tonnes of castor in 4,640 hectares, 0.002 lakh tonnes of sunflower in 1,972 hectares, 1.775 lakh tonnes of sugarcane in 1,972 hectares, 0.257 lakh tonnes of turmeric in 4,846 hectares and 150 lakh tonnes of fruits in 6,000 hectares.

The hectarage had gone down in case of many crops during rabi season. The crop area had gone down from 2,46,134 hectares to 1,56,011 hectares.

Paddy was raised in 21,247 hectares with a harvest of 1.20 lakh tonnes, jowar in 1,115 hectares with a harvest of 0.045 lakh tonnes, maize in 32,786 hectares with a harvest of 1.639 lakh tonnes, redgram in 559 hectares with a harvest of 0.007 tonnes, greengram in 7,823 hectares with a harvest of 0.066 lakh tonnes and Bengalgram in 3,719 hectares with a harvest of 0.046 lakh tonnes.

Other rabi crops included blackgram grown in 67,026 hectares with a harvest of 0.503 lakh tonnes, groundnut in 4,585 hectares with a harvest of 0.128 lakh tonnes, sesamum in 805 hectares with a harvest of 0.005 lakh tonnes, castor in 125 hectares with a harvest of 0.001 lakh tonnes, rapeseed and mustard in 1,358 hectares with a harvest of 0.005 lakh tonnes, chillies in 271 hectares with a harvest of 0.01 lakh tonnes, tobacco in 2,107 hectares with a harvest of 0.035 lakh tonnes, fruits and vegetables in 12,000 hectares with a harvest of 0.6 lakh tonnes.

Farmers in Krishna district raised kharif crops in 3,57,486 hectares as against the normal crop area of 3,56,686 hectares and reaped 30.46 tonnes worth Rs 917.86 crore.

Paddy, cotton, redgram and groundnut are the main kharif crops. Crop areas during rabi went down from 2,07,182 hectares to 1,69,221 hectares. As there was no water supply for the third rabi in succession, farmers depended on borewells and drainwater.