The State administration intends to suggest moving forward the crop season by 3–4 weeks in an effort to safeguard farmers from the dangers presented by unseasonal rainfall and reduce crop losses. Authorities have also recommended encouraging the growth of crop kinds like rice and others that can be harvested quickly. There is a draught report that will be presented to the cabinet subcommittee on agriculture for review.

In Telangana, the Yasangi (Rabi) cropping season began in december and finished in March-April, while the Vaanakalam (Kharif) farming season began in July and ended in October-November during the south-west monsoon. However, because of climatic fluctuations, the state has frequently seen unpredictable rainfall in the months of october through november and march through April, which are the Vaanakalam and Yasangi seasons' respective harvest times.

As a result, farmers had severe crop losses, which had a detrimental effect on productivity as a whole. A total of four lakh acres of crops during the Vaanakalam season and an additional 1.5 lakh acres during the Yasangi season were harmed by unseasonal rainfall in the preceding year alone.

According to recent comments made by Agriculture minister S. Niranjan reddy, "Unseasonal rains have become a concern for both farmers and the government, even though the agriculture sector has made tremendous development thanks to farmer-friendly initiatives adopted by the State government in the previous nine years. Prior to harvest, losses are occurring to paddy and other crops.

The chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has recommended expanding the agricultural season to alleviate these losses and has tasked the cabinet subcommittee headed by Niranjan reddy with investigating the matter. The harvest season might be advanced by roughly one month thanks to plans created by a group of agricultural specialists and government representatives. Accordingly, the Yasangi crop planting will begin in november and end in december, but the Vaanakalam crop sowing will start in june and be finished by July.

"By beginning the growing season early, farmers may coordinate their planting plans with the local weather patterns, lessening exposure to unforeseen rains during crucial growth phases. This would also allow them to benefit from the early monsoon rainfall, which are adequate for the germination and early development of crops like rice, according to a department of agriculture official. Reduced loss during the milling of raw rice would also be achieved by harvesting the Yasangi crop earlier than the first week of April.

Additionally, policymakers have created measures to encourage agricultural progress and increase farmer understanding. Encouragement of farmers to advance sowing operations at the field level in some places has already met with some success.

But there is a need for extensive initiatives to inform farmers about this problem. To have a considerable influence in this area, it is suggested that farmers' meetings and training programmes be organised all across the state.
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G GOWTHAM

03/06/2023 12:16 PM