The farming community in Karimnagar district is in doldrums following the prevailing drought conditions and the rains eluding them even after completion of two months of rainy season.
The early monsoon in June had rekindled hope among the farming community about the good rainfall during this kharif season. They started cultivation expecting good rainfall. But, the rains remained only for a few days. Seed such as cotton, maize, green gram which germinated after a few days, withered due to dry weather conditions. The area of cultivation came down drastically in the district. Against the normal area of cultivation of 5.14 lakh hectares during the kharif season, the farmers had so far cultivated only 3.43 lakh hectares, which is only 66 per cent. The rain-fed crops such as maize, cotton, soyabean, etc. had withered in fields due to non-availability of water.
Expecting copious rainfall following the early monsoon, the farmers had cultivated cotton in 2.26 lakh hectares against the normal area of 2.33 lakh hectares. Due to dry weather conditions the crop was withered causing huge loss to the farming community. Similarly, the maize was cultivated in 49,524 hectares against the normal area of 56,090 hectares.
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The Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP), which is a lifeline of Karimnagar district, with a total capacity of 90.31 TMC of water, is now having only seven TMC of water. The water for irrigation under the command area of the project would be released only if the reservoir capacity reaches 65 TMC. Due to the poor inflows into the major irrigation project, the paddy cultivation had come down to 36,415 hectares against the normal area of 1,82,453 hectares.
The groundwater also came down drastically because of the poor rainfall in the last two years. Official sources said that the groundwater levels had reduced by more than three meters in the district. In Gangadhara mandal, the groundwater table had fallen down to 22.42 meters. The farmers who had grown paddy nurseries are also worried about the withering of crop and non-availability of ground water.