Paddy is fast regaining its lost ground on its home turf, West Godavari district. With paddy being the principal crop, the district has prefixes such as ‘paddy-rich’ and ‘rice bowl’, thanks to Sir Arthur Cotton who paved the way for green revolution in the Godavari delta region by being the architect of the Dhavaleswaram Barrage, built across the Godavari river, and the irrigation system a century ago.
The district is endowed with net cropped area of 4.34 lakh hectares. Paddy is the major crop with 2.13 lakh ha in khariff and 1.16 lakh ha in rabi. Sometime ago it lost its ground to the other crops such as maize, sugarcane, black gram and tobacco, thanks to the prolonged glut in the paddy market. The situation seems turning the full circle in favour of paddy.
According to Yalamanchili Saisrilakshmi, Joint Director, Department of Agriculture, paddy beckons farmers raising maize, black gram and sugarcane back into its fold in many areas, especially upland parts of the district. Disheartening market conditions had forced traditional growers to shift to alternative crops in the past.
Increasing yield levels and the feel-good price situation in paddy are reportedly triggering reverse migration now from other crops. The government has increased the minimum support price per bag of paddy from Rs. 800 to Rs. 1,000 in the recent past following pressures from peasant organisations. The average paddy yield has been crossing 45 bags a hectare. The positive yield and market conditions reportedly help paddy growers to end up with a surplus of Rs. 24,000-25,000 per acre at the end of the day after deducting all the cultivation costs.
