The farming community in Telangana may be cut up about the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government’s ways on the crop loan waiver scheme, but many a farmer in Adilabad is in awe of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for having stood by his promise of 6-hour power supply to agriculture sector. All those farmers who cultivate under irrigated conditions were able to go in for advanced kharif sowing thanks to uninterrupted power supply.
“Germination is 100 per cent in all the 35 acres in which I sowed cotton,” says a beaming Sunkari Ramaiah, cotton farmer from Dorli village in Talamadugu mandal as he points towards the newly germinated plants in his field. “I have even taken a dozen acres on lease as the power situation has improved a lot this year,” he adds as he talks of, what in his words, is an unusual phenomenon.
Like the Dorli farmer, Katipalli Keshav Reddy of Talamadugu mandal headquarter village also went for sowing cotton as early as mid May. “The improved power supply has helped us realise the full benefits of the micro irrigation system which we acquired a few years back,” he points out as he exhibits the nascent crop in his five acres close to his village.
In Talamadugu mandal alone, about 400 acres of land has been brought under cotton cultivation under irrigated conditions about 15 to 20 days in advance. “We hope that the government ensures quality power supply at least until the end of this month,” urged Katipally Srinivas Reddy, another progressive farmer from Talamadugu.
Supply to continue
The Northern Power Distribution Company Limited, Adilabad Superintendent B. Ashok, asserts that power will be supplied as promised even in August. Adilabad has an average of power demand of 230 MW to 240 MW at present of which 60 per cent goes to agriculture sector. The flip side in the issue is the dismal extent of irrigation in this district which is about 20 per cent of the total cultivable area. The cultivable area being nearly 7 lakh hectares, only about 1.4 lakh hectares of it is irrigated with an estimated 50,000 hectares under private sources.
6-hour supply ensures advanced sowing and 100 per cent germination of cotton in Adilabad
