The Rabi season’s paddy harvesting has started in East Godavari district on a pleasant note, with farmers reporting good yield due to favourable climatic and other conditions.
KAKINADA: The Rabi season’s paddy harvesting has started in East Godavari district on a pleasant note, with farmers reporting good yield due to favourable climatic and other conditions.
The farmers in the region had suffered in the early stage of rabi due to lack of sufficient water for the crop’s survival. But, the scenario improved after the irrigation department released water for the crop on a shared basis. There were no pests and diseases this year. This reduced the cost of cultivation.
Farmers said the crop cutting was of the order of 50 quintals per acre so far. A farmer in Rangampeta mandal said if the favourable conditions prevailed, the farmers may recover from the problems of debts and other tensions. Paddy is cultivated in nearly 69,000 hectares in East Godavari district and the production is estimated at 5.25 lakhs metric tonnes.
According to officials, more than 30,000 metric tonnes of paddy would be used for local consumption while rice millers may directly purchase nearly 50,000 metric tonnes this season.
Farmers cultivated mainly the MTU 1121( Sri Dhruthi), MTU 3626 (Bondalu), RVR 15048 and 1318 varieties. They expect more than the Minimum Support Price for the Bondalu variety. This is sent mainly to Kerala. Rice millers are buying this variety in large quantities this season, it is learnt.
East Godavari district’s joint director of agriculture, Madhava Rao, told Deccan Chronicle that the “yield of this Rabi season is satisfactory, as there were no problems of pests and diseases to the crop” and that the farmers would get good returns from the good yield. He said that when the cyclones occurred last year, the alluvial soil deposited in the paddy fields contributed to a hike in the yield.
In West Godavari district, paddy harvesting would start by the end of March or the first week of April. Joint collector Rahul Reddy has advised paddy committee members and the civil supplies department to get ready for paddy purchase from the farmers during the rabi season.
He said that the officials should create awareness among farmers about the MSP of `2,300 for the common variety and Rs 2,320 for the Grade-A variety per quintal, and that the paddy would be purchased below 17 moisture content. Officials must ensure that the farmers would not sell their paddy below the fixed MSP.
