The ongoing 2014-15 crop year has left the farming community highly disappointed with drought conditions prevailing in most parts of Telangana. The State suffered over 30 per cent deficit rainfall in monsoon resulting in reduced crop production.
The Telangana State witnessed an alarming situation ever since it came into being on June 2, 2014 with a large number of farmers committing suicide due to distress caused by crop failure, particularly due to erratic power supply since farmers are predominantly dependent either on rain-fed cultivation or borewell irrigation. Left parties put the number of suicides at about 600 since June, though the government played down the phenomenon. Officials put the number of suicides below 100.
“Not all farmer suicides are related to agriculture as there are different reasons for these deaths. Keeping such argument aside, it’s not fair to blame the present State government alone as the cause for their distress. Power problem has been inherited from united Andhra Pradesh and efforts are on to improve the supply,” Telangana Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said.
The TRS government had provided relief to farmers by implementing crop loan waiver scheme and clearing 25 per cent of their debt out of the total outstanding amount up to Rs. One lakh.
“We have also announced several schemes to improve marketing facilities, micro irrigation and greenhouse cultivation with enhanced subsidy,” the Minister explained.
Keeping aside the disappointing kharif and rabi seasons in the first year, the Telangana government has taken up restoration of minor irrigation tanks and chain-link tanks system as one of its flagship programmes for making agriculture more dependable. The government is planning to restore over 45,300 irrigation tanks in five years by taking up restoration of over 9,000 tanks having an irrigation potential of over one lakh acres.
The government has plans to take up Pranahita-Chevella, Jurala-Pakala and Palamuru lift irrigation projects besides completing the ongoing Kalwakurthy, Koelsagar, Nettempadu and Bima lift irrigation schemes in Mahabubnagar district and Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel project for Nalgonda among several other major irrigation projects at the earliest.
