Rain in many parts of the State for the three days have replaced uncertainty with hope among the faming community even as the kharif cultivation remains below normal by over 35 per cent.
The delay in penetration of monsoon rain and refusal of banks to renew crop loans to about 35.3 lakh farmers covered under the crop loan waiver scheme have kept the cultivation low at less than 7 lakh hectares against the normal of over 10 lakh hectares coverage by now.
The time is fast running out for cultivation of pulses such as green gram and black gram and cash crops such as soybean. “Sowing of most of the crops require good soil moisture for germination and the required dampness in the upper layers of soil comes only with the help of at least 70 mm rainfall,” officials of Agriculture Department said adding that many mandals have not recorded that amount of rain so far.
Sowing of seed of crops such as maize, cotton, red gram, jowar and others, besides paddy, could be done till the third week of July, the officials said. Cultivation of cotton is likely to remain high in such circumstances, in spite of the government efforts to bring it down to 10.64 lakh hectares this year against last year’s 17 lakh hectares.
The crop has already been cultivated in nearly half of the total extent covered in kharif season as the plans to encourage soybean and maize in place of cotton have fallen flat due to delayed rains and institutional credit.
The State Government has prepared orders to release Rs. 2,019 crore out of Rs.4,040 crore required for writing off the third quarter of the crop loan waiver.
Official sources said that renewal of crop loan accounts linked to the waiver scheme is likely to be delayed for over a week due to the time consumed in percolation of the information along with necessary orders by the controlling officers of banks till the branch level.
The actual rainfall in 125 out of 443 mandals where crops are cultivated is either deficit or scanty till date, although it is normal or excess in the remaining mandals. Technically, the average rainfall across the State till June 27 is 17 per cent above normal with deficit of only 15 per cent, 13 per cent, respectively, in Adilabad and Karimnagar districts.
