The impact of uneven distribution of rains during the south-west monsoon period, inadequate inflows into a few major projects such as Singur and Nizamsagar and insufficient water in Jurala reservoir is expected to keep the cultivation of rabi (Yasangi) crops in the State below normal.
Although the State government has not announced crop holiday officially under any major project, the Irrigation Department authorities have decided against release of water for rabi crops under Jurala, Singur and Nizamsagar projects. They have appealed to the farming community in the ayacut to “cooperate” stating that the water available is required for drinking needs till July-end.
While Jurala has only 4.45 tmc ft storage as on Friday, Singur (2.46 tmc ft) and Nizamsagar (0.94 tmc ft) have very little water as the two reservoirs have received only about 3 tmc ft inflows together this water year. “The officials of Jurala have decided not to give water to about 1.02 lakh acres ayacut under its Right and Left Canals stating that there are no chances of even getting regenerated water from Narayanpur project ayacut in Karnataka, where crop holiday was declared for rabi,” a senior irrigation official stated.
Drinking water
Besides, there are no chances of giving water to the about 2.7 lakh acres ayacut under Singur and Nizamsagar projects since the water available is not enough even for drinking needs. “Water for rabi cultivation is also not possible for ayacut under projects depending on Jurala reservoir water such as Koilsagar, Nettempadu and Bhima lift irrigation and other lift irrigation schemes based on Krishna, Godavari and their tributaries,” the sources stated.
However, there is a semblance of hope for farmers in the ayacut of Nagarjunasagar (NS) Left Canal and Sriramsagar (SRSP) as the irrigation authorities are planning to give water to about 4 lakh acres under NS and another 5.4 lakh acres under SRSP. Farmers under Kalwakurthy and Devadula lift irrigation projects for about 2 lakh acres and 0.5 lakh acres under projects such as Kaddam and Alisagar are likely to get water.
Groundwater level
Cultivation of rabi crops with groundwater is also set to come down this year in many parts of the State due to the uneven distribution of monsoon rains. Except for parts of combined Adilabad, Warangal, Khammam and Karimnagar districts, the groundwater table has recorded a sharp fall in this period of the agriculture year compared to the previous year.
The average groundwater table in the State has gone down by 2.1 meters in December 2018 compared to December 2017 with 12 (new) districts registering severe depletion ranging from 3.8 meters (Yadadri) to 7.59 meters (Sangareddy). During the last one month (November-December), the average depletion was noticed as 0.25 meters.
