Krishna farmers bet big on paddy this rabi

Ignoring the state government's appeal to cut down on the paddy cultivation area this rabi (second crop) season, farmers in Krishna district have taken it up in about one lakh hectares, double the normal area of 46,216 hectares.

This increase in rabi paddy hectareage has hit blackgram cultivation, which has been raised in only 70,000 hectare as against the normal 1,25,285 hectares in the district. Farmers say that they are not worried about water availability for paddy crop as the region received 983.9 mm of rainfall this year as compared to 609.2 mm last year.

S Jagadeeswara Reddy, district agriculture joint director, told Business Standard that as against the normal crop area of 2,47,608 hectares, Krishna farmers raised kharif (first crop) paddy in 2,52,987 hectares. The yield is estimated at 14,34,476 tonnes even as farmers are midway through the first phase harvesting operations.

As far as paddy varieties are concerned, farmers showed a strong liking for BPT Samba Masuri, cultivating it in 1,36,074 hectares with a projected crop yield of 7,65,420 tonnes. The other paddy varieties included MTU-2077 (in 35,278 hectares; estimated crop 2,11,668 tonnes), MTU-1061 (in 32,760 hectare; estimated crop 1,90,402 tonnes), MTU-2716 (in 15,121 hectare; estimated crop 85,059 tonnes), MTU-7029 (in 12,602 hectares; estimated crop 68,516 tonnes), MTU-2067 (in 7,559 hectares; estimated crop 42,524 tonnes) and the remaining hybrids raised in 12,602 hectares with yield estimation put at 70,887 tonnes.

"Kharif paddy is harvested in three phases. The first phase is currently on, the second phase will begin in the first week of December and the third in January first week," Reddy said.

As regards kharif maize, the projections proved right. The yield of maize varieties, grown in 8,500 hectares as against the normal 6,417 hectares, touched 37,223 tonnes. Major maize hybrids sown here included Pro-agro, Hyshell and M-900.

However, there was a slight decline in the area for redgram cultivation during kharif. It was sown in 8,361 hectares as against the normal 8,630 hectares, he said, adding, "The first harvest is expected in the second week of December and the final is slated for January first week. Experts put the total kharif redgram yield at 5,371 tonnes. Along with the local varieties, farmers sowed ICPL-85063 redgram seeds."

Reddy said the recent heavy rains and floods damaged crops in 59,713 hectares with paddy taking the brunt of the destruction in 32,374 hectares. Despite the loss, paddy is heading for a record harvest. Sugarcane, raised in 22,860 hectares as against the normal 14,955 hectares, was damaged in 1,038 hectare.

He said that the hectareage of groundnut at 5,000 hectares came down by 603 hectare in rabi. However, cultivation of rabi maize has gone up from the normal 4,227 hectares to 10,000 hectares."