'Rice Bowl' Andhra losing sheen due to lesser rains

Once considered the `rice bowl' of India, Andhra Pradesh is fast losing its sheen in the face of shrinking paddy crop area and consequent drop in production due to severe water shortage.

Once considered the `rice bowl' of India, Andhra Pradesh is fast losing its sheen in the face of shrinking paddy crop area and consequent drop in production due to severe water shortage.

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With the monsoon playing truant and inflow into major reservoirs touching record low levels, the outlook for water-intensive paddy crop is grim as paddy saplings are sown in only one per cent of the normal area for the current Kharif season so far.

"In view of the water shortage, we are keeping the area and production levels much lower than normal levels. In fact, we are discouraging farmers from going in for water-intensive paddy and instead want them to opt for alternative crops," sources in the state agriculture department told PTI here.

Though the Vision-2020 document, prepared by the TDP government, envisages numero uno position for the state in terms of paddy production, harsh realities on the ground have forced the authorities to rethink and re-orient priorities in favour of cash crops.

For the current kharif crop, the paddy production is targetted at 74.76 lakh tonnes only as against the normal production level of 90 to 95 lakh tonnes.

In view of the 24 per cent deficit rainfall so far, sowing operations are moving at a snail's pace with paddy farmers worried over availability of water for their crops.

The paddy crop area for this kharif season is being pegged at 24 lakh hectares, over three lakh hectares lower than the normal extent of the crop, the sources said.