The New Indian Express ·
Super El Nino: 80% of cotton crop withers in Nalgonda
NALGONDA: Severe drought-like conditions have prevailed across the district since the beginning of the monsoon season. In view of the El Nino threat forecast by the Meteorological department, irrigation and agriculture officials, along with public representatives, advised farmers to cultivate short-duration dryland crops requiring less water instead of water-intensive crops such as cotton and paddy.
However, farmers largely ignored the advisories and extensively cultivated paddy and cotton, relying on borewells and hoping for rains. Of the total cultivable area of 11,23,750 acres in the district, cultivation took place on 9,92,040 acres this season, with paddy and cotton alone accounting for 9,54,535 acres. Dryland crops such as red gram, black gram and green gram were sown on only 37,505 acres.
Widespread rainfall during the last week of June and in July, along with inflows into the Srisailam reservoir, led farmers to anticipate that Nagarjunasagar would fill up. This prompted extensive paddy transplantation, including in the command area, resulting in significant crop coverage across the district.