El Nino-driven drought and high temperatures are affecting the cotton crop in Adilabad district. Farmers say a spell of rain is urgently needed to protect the crop. Otherwise, they fear a sharp decline in yield due to a lack of soil moisture.
Farmers from several areas are reporting that their cotton plants are withering, Cotton bolls are bursting due to insufficient moisture. Farmers fear that yields will fall sharply this season, even as demand for cotton bales is high in the international market.
Farmers are expecting that cotton prices will touch ₹10,000 per quintal, against the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹8,667.
Cotton has been cultivated on 4.30 lakh acres in Adilabad district.
The decline in cotton yields varies from village to village and mandal to mandal, depending on soil conditions and rainfall patterns. Even within villages, yields are differing because of variations in rainfall and duration of dry spells.
Kareniwal Gopal of Tantholi village in Adilabad Rural mandal said he had cultivated cotton on six acres. Despite access to water, the yield is just six quintals per acre during the first picking, which is under way. He is expecting a total yield of only five to six quintals per acre due to the drought.
Gopal said farmers who have no source of watering the crop would barely get a yield of two quintals. He said black soils retain more moisture and are likely to produce better yields than red soils.
In the interim, agriculture department officials have prepared a preliminary report on the drought conditions and submitted the same to the state government.
Tudum Vinod of Chanda (T) said the prolonged dry spell has severely affected standing crops. In some areas, farmers might not recover even their cultivation costs, he said.
There have been no inflows into the Kadam irrigation project in Nirmal district. The project currently holds 2.639 TMC of water against its full capacity of 3.495 TMC. Its water level stands at 696.025 feet, against the full level of 700 feet. Paddy has been cultivated on 68,150 acres under its ayacut.
Current outflows include 784 cusecs into the left canal, 70 cusecs into the right canal and nine cusecs for Mission Bhagiratha.
The Sripada Yellampalli irrigation project holds 17.9248 TMC against its full capacity of 20.1754 TMC, with inflows from the Kadam catchment area. The water level stands at 147.19 metres, and the total current outflow is 359 cusecs.
Irrigation officials are currently releasing water for Mission Bhagiratha. However, absence of inflows into the Kadam and Yellampalli projects has raised concerns over supplies in the coming days. Considering the adverse situation, Irrigation department is not planning to release water for paddy cultivation during the upcoming Yasangi season. Existing supplies are to be preserved for meeting the drinking water needs.
A welcome feature is soya farmers in Adilabad district receiving prices above the MSP. Traders are approaching farmers directly and purchasing soya at ₹6,500 to ₹7,000 per quintal, against the MSP of ₹5,708. Farmers are willingly selling their produce directly to private traders to avoid transportation costs
At Bhainsa in Nirmal district, private traders are reportedly offering up to ₹7,500 per quintal.
Farmers from Arni, Hinganghat, and Bhokar in Maharashtra are transporting their soya to Telangana markets, so that they can obtain higher prices.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
