Hyderabad: Telangana ’s push to shift farmers away from water-intensive paddy towards alternative crops appears to have made headway this monsoon, with pulses acreage rising by 2.25 lakh acres even as paddy cultivation fell by 8.9 lakh acres compared with last year.
Of the paddy decline, about 5.9 lakh acres, nearly 59%, came from 16 rainfall-deficient districts for which crop-wise data is available. Paddy acreage declined in all 16 of these districts. Total pulse acreage rose from 5.6 lakh acres last year to 7.8 lakh acres this year, marking a 40% increase, according to latest data from the agriculture department. Redgram, one of the crops identified under the govt’s contingency planning for rainfall stress, increased from 4.7 lakh acres to 5.5 lakh acres, a rise of 79,990 acres or 16.8%. Paddy acreage across 16 such districts for which crop-wise figures are available fell by about 5.26 lakh acres, from roughly 39.12 lakh acres to 33.86 lakh acres. Telangana has 17 rainfall-deficient districts as of Sept 2, while 16 districts are classified as normal. Statewide rainfall stood at 474.7 mm against the normal of 587.2 mm, resulting in a deficit of 19% as of Sept 2.
The latest crop data, however, does not establish that all acreage lost by paddy had directly shifted to pulses. The shift was particularly visible in rainfall-deficient districts. The increase points to a broader crop diversification trend, with pulses emerging as an important alternative during a season of uneven rainfall..