Paddy transplantation activity in the Yasangi (rabi) has picked up in the district with water from the Nizamsagar Project being released. Water through Gutpa and Alisagar lift schemes is likely to be released within a couple of days.
Many farmers have prepared the paddy seedlings ready for transplantation within this month as the government motivated them to do so in view of the untimely rains and gales and hailstorms in the months of April and May. Expecting that paddy would be sown in over 2.30 lakh acres in the current Yasangi, agriculture authorities provided farmers with the required quantity of seeds and other inputs.
As there is plenty of water in the two major reservoirs - the NSP and the SRSP and also in irrigation tanks, groundwater got recharged assuring farmers of sufficient water for cultivation. With the government about to give round-the-clock power supply to the farm sector from January 1, farmers are inclined to take up paddy cultivation in the ayacut.
Transplantation picked up in the areas where seedlings were sown earlier and the activity is expected to continue till the end of the month. Since there is dearth of farm labourers for the activity, farmers prefer to bring them from different parts of Telangana. Usually, farm labourers from the erstwhile undivided Nalgonda district keep coming here for transplantation work and stay for a month.
Labourers work on the field from dawn to dusk and each gets from ₹300 to ₹350 per day. Migrant workers finish the work fast and they come in groups. Works under the MNREGS is one of the reasons for the dearth of local workers, according to Parvathaneni Charan of Dharmaram village in Dichpally mandal.
Farm labourers come here during the season as there is no work in dry areas of Nalgonda district. They go back home earning a handsome amount in one month.
