Rains spur farm activity in Anantapur and Kurnool

Sporadic rains in the last two days have resulted in hectic farm activity in the undivided Kurnool and Anantapur districts. The southwest monsoon, which usually arrives on June 8, hit these districts on June 21 this year.

Agricultural labourers and farmers, who have been working at the MGNREGS worksites for the past 20 days, waiting for the monsoon rain. They were seen rushing to their fields equipped with seeds and implements to begin the kharif operations.

At Pamidi in Anantapur district, farm labourers were sowing groundnut while a group of labourers were busy in sowing and weeding operations in cotton fields at Veldurthy in Kurnool district.

The Agriculture Department, with the help of Andhra Pradesh Seeds Corporation, have stocked groundnut seeds at all Rythu Bharosa Kendras in Anantapur district. However, only 66,000 quintals of seeds have been sought by 77,000 farmers so far, against a total of 1.78 lakh quintals to be distributed on subsidy. This lack of demand is due to the late arrival of monsoon rain, the officials said.

Koilakonda Ashok Kumar, the agro-meteorologist of Agriculture Research Centre Rekulakunta in Anantapur district, told The Hindu that the late arrival of the monsoon was not too bad for the crops as there was time till July 15 for sowing operations, especially for the groundnut varieties with a crop period of 120 days.

Advisory for farmers

“Farmers should not rush the sowing operations now. They should wait till the first week of July for more showers. They can go for sowing only when there is sufficient rain— more than 50mm in three days,” he said.

He advised the farmers for cultivating drought-resistant crops, preferably bajra (pearl millet) and jowar (sorghum) as the Central and State governments were providing support for these crops. These 100-day crops can resist dry spells and excess rain situations.

Giving statistics of similar incidents in Anantapur district, he said the monsoon was delayed in 2016 and 2019, but it did not impact the crop yields. The district received 94.5 mm of rain in June against a normal of 63.9 in 2016. However, there was a rain deficit of 29 mm in June 2019. Despite the delayed monsoon, there was no impact on the yield, he said.

He suggested inter-cropping of red gram or castor with any other crop so that in case of severe deficit or excess rainfall, something could be harvested. Farmers should cultivate cotton only if they have an assured source of irrigation, he said.