Scientists Try Growing Wheat in AP

 Visakhapatnam: Scientists at the Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) have begun an experiment to cultivate wheat and other non-traditional crops in the hilly region of the ASR district.

Seeds have been sown. If the experiment succeeds, Andhra Pradesh would be the second state in the South to grow wheat – the first being in Ooty, Tamil Naidu.

Tribal farmers harvest paddy in over 50,000 hectares that are rain-fed and use less fertilizers. They keep the land fallow after harvesting the paddy and leave the fields idle till the next sowing season before the onset of southwest monsoons.

“We want the farmers to grow non-traditional crops during the Rabi season, so that they would get an additional income. On an experimental basis, we are attempting cultivation of wheat, sunflower, mustard, black gram, green gram, chickpea, lentil and linseed,’’ said assistant director of RARS, A Appalaswamy.

Talking to Deccan Chronicle, he said if the experiment succeeds, wheat would be grown in about 20,000 hectares on a commercial basis. Last week, wheat and mustard seeds were sown in 20 cents of the RARS Chintapalli farms.

Mustard appeared to be promising. Cattle would not touch the leaves, the farmers said.

RARS is also attempting to revive the ancient varieties of rice cultivated by Adivasis in the region. Scientists are evaluating the local primitive rice varieties and cultivating 15 of these in the kharif season.

Notably, however, the experiments on growing apples, strawberries, tulips and saffron flowers in select regions failed due to the warm temperatures here.

“We hope the non-traditional crops having gestation periods ranging from 90 to 120 days will succeed. The temperature remains cold till the end of February,‘’ Appalaswamy noted.