Is a severe drought staring at Medak district? That is what officials in the Agriculture Department feel. They fear that this may be worse than the drought the district faced about three years ago in 2011, when there were no rains till the end of September.
The normal rainfall that needs to be registered as on August 7 is 392.7 m.m. whereas the actual rainfall registered was only 165.1 m.m. making it minus 58 per cent. As a result, sowing was reduced by 30 per cent, against the expected area. According to sources in the Agriculture Department, the area that was sown so far stood at 3,06,832 hectares, against the sowing of 4,40,141 hectares of normal sowing area. Last year by the same date sowing took place in 4,11,158 hectares.
Paddy sowing was reduced by about 17,000 hectares, compared to last year’s sowing of 52,425 hectares, while presently it registered only 35,373 hectares. Maize cultivation was reduced by 45,000 hectares. The majority area in Medak district is being cultivated under rain-fed conditions and farmers are waiting for rains to come so that they come out of the present drought conditions. Presently irrigation facility was available for about 14,000 acres under Ghanapur ayacut, while it was proposed to release irrigation for about 10,000 acres under Singoor project. But one has to wait till the situation has improved with better inflows taking place.
It was stated that in some places like Dubbak cattle was facing serious water problem as many of the tanks were not yet filled. “The situation may go out of control if there are no rains till the end of September. We fear a worse situation compared with the drought in 2011. At least the tanks had some water stored in that year. But this time the situation is alarming,” the officer said.
