Cotton Crop. (Photo: X)
Adilabad: Heavy weeds grown in cotton, soya and red gram crops due to incessant rains compel the farmers to spend additional money on their fields in the erstwhile Adilabad district. The heavy rains have been lashing at the district for the last 20 days and have grown huge weeds in the agricultural fields.
Many farmers engaged agriculture labourers for weeding activities and they are not getting a sufficient number of hands as all the farmers want to engage the labourers for weeding at the same time. Due to this demand, the farmers are paying `250 daily wage for agricultural labourers for weeding. Some of the farmers are using an anti-weed pest (‘Gaddi Manddu’) to control the weeds due to a shortage of labour. Some local farmers are even bringing the agriculture labourers from areas bordering Maharashtra. Women are mostly engaged in the weeding.
Farmer Tekam Ramu of the new Somvarpet village in Gudihathnoor mandal said they were busy weeding in the cotton fields as removing the weeds is a must for the growth of the cotton plant and to get a good yield. However, cotton farmers like Ramu anticipate good yields this Kharif with timely rains and the healthy growth of cotton plants. Cotton is the major crop in the erstwhile Adilabad district and there is a rise in the area of cotton cultivation. In the present Adilabad district alone, the area of the cotton crop was increased to 4.50 lakh acres for this Kharif from the 4. 16 lakh acres last Kharif. It is estimated that the cotton is cultivated on nearly 18 lakh acres in the erstwhile Adilabad district.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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