With more than three-fourths of mandals in the State, 449 out of 588, suffering deficient, largely deficient and no rain in the first two weeks of the south-west monsoon period, the cultivation of several kharif crops is likely to be adversely affected.
Only 67 mandals, mostly in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, have received more than normal rainfall and another 72 have normal precipitation as on June 15. According to officials, the average deficit of rainfall in the State as on June 15 is 53% as the average rainfall recorded is 25.8 mm against the normal of 55 mm. The average rainfall for June is 129.9 mm.
The delay in the onset of monsoon rains has also pushed up power demand by about 300MW to 500MW on daily basis compared to the demand witnessed in June last year. The peak load on the system recorded so far this month is 8,355MW (June 6) and peak energy consumption was 170.92 million units (MU) on June 1. Last year, the maximum load recorded was 8,275MW and energy consumption was 162.91 MU in June.
Short-duration crop
With 24 out of 32 rural districts suffering deficient and largely deficient rainfall, its impact is likely to be high on the cultivation of short duration pulses such as greengram and bengalgram and cash crops like soyabean, maize and cotton. The delay in sowing of greengram and blackgram would affect both the extent and yield of the two short duration pulses. The normal extent of the two crops in kharif is about 1.4 lakh hectares out of total food grains’ normal extent of about 19.5 lakh ha.
Similarly, the delay in sowing of cash crops such as soyabean, maize and cotton would not only impact their yield but also increases the threat of pest attacks. The delay in sowing of these crops except cotton also pushes their harvesting period further into the peak monsoon in September-October.
“With the forecast of further delay in the onset of monsoon, the likelihood of more and more farmers turning to cotton increases with the relative impact on food crops, mainly pulses,” a senior official of the Agriculture Department said adding that the cultivation of pulses as such is on the decline during the last couple of years.
