Kharif leaves a bitter taste among farmers -Jayanth P

-The Times of India

VIJAYAWADA: The agriculture sector in Andhra Pradesh is in the throes of a major crisis. Notwithstanding the claims of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu that his government has won the war on drought by deploying rain guns and taking up drought-mitigation measures, the kharif season -- which has just ended -- has been a big dampener for the farming community.

What is shocking is that crop acreage in the last three kharif seasons has shrunk by five lakh hectares. "The last three kharifs have been a disaster. Paddy cultivation in Krishna delta has come down considerably. Never in the last 150 years has this phenomenon taken place," a farm expert said.

The distraught farmers say the last three kharif seasons have evaporated their hopes and take pot-shots at the Naidu government that it is only bothered about marketing Amaravati. "We have been at the receiving end for three kharifs and yet the government has done precious little for us. When we were in dire need of water in August, the government was busy spending crores of rupees on Krishna Pushkarams. Andhra Pradesh is the only state in India that is highly dependent on agriculture but the government's focus is revolved only around Amravati," rued M Siva Nageswara Rao, a cotton grower of Muppalla in Guntur district.

Acreage which was 43.8 lakh hectares (ha) in 2013-14 fell to 39.86 lakh ha in 2014-15 and to 36.34 lakh ha in 2015-16. And in 2016-17, cultivation was taken up in 38.62 lakh ha. "The area of cultivation has come down significantly. While it was 43.8 lakh ha in undivided Andhra Pradesh, it has now come down by 5.49 lakh ha," pointed out MVS Nagi Reddy, former member of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR).

Paddy cultivation came down in 2.8 lakh ha, cotton in 1.96 lakh ha, cereals in 2.09 lakh ha and pulses in 0.64 lakh ha. Nagi Reddy explained that Telangana which had 4 lakh ha lesser cultivation area in the undivided AP has improved its acreage by 2 lakh ha in the corresponding three years.

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