Farm activity has picked up pace across Prakasam district, during the Rabi season, owing to the Northeast monsoon rains.
Farmers were anticipating the current wet spell, as they struggled through scanty rainfall in the Kharif season. Besides deficit rainfall, Nagarjunasagar reservoir also registered meagre inflow this year, compelling farmers to skip growing crops in about 1.78 lakh hectares.
Farmers heaved a sigh of relief in the drought-prone district, which recorded 116.2 mm rainfall till November 24 as opposed to the regular 136.2 mm rainfall. Thus, the crop coverage was a healthy 26.4% of normal extent of 1.72 lakh hectares in the initial phase of Rabi season, according to a report compiled by the Agriculture department.
‘’With rains abating, farmers can go ahead with sowing of Rabi crops like Bengal gram, maize, tobacco, black gram briskly from the first week of December,’‘ Agriculture Joint Director S. Srinivasa Rao told The Hindu. ‘‘The department has distributed 30,000 quintal of pulse crop seeds at subsidised rates to farmers’‘, he added.
Bengal gram is the principal pulse crop raised in over 55,000 hectares in the district every year. Maize accounted for maximum coverage of 63.47% of the normal acreage of 4670 hectares so far during Rabi. Pulse crops have been sown in over 21,000 hectares so far as against the normal extent of 90607 hectares.
As many as 30 mandals registered deficient rainfall in the drought-prone district while five other mandals recorded a large deficit of more than 60% deficit. Only three mandals recorded normal rainfall in the district with 38 mandals.
