By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, April 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) A bumper harvest of paddy has brought cheers to Telangana in the otherwise gloomy environment due to coronavirus-induced lockdown, resulting in the state's revenues coming to almost nil.
Thanks to completion of some key irrigation projects, including prestigious Kaleswaram and 24X7 electricity supply, India's youngest state, once described as most backward and parched, is on the way to emerge as the new rice bowl of India.
With record cultivation of paddy on nearly 40 lakh acres during the ongoing Rabi season, the state expects a yield of more than one crore tonnes, the highest for the season since creation of the state six years ago.
While opening nearly 7,000 centres in villages to procure paddy directly from farmers, Telangana is also catering to requirements of other states with the supply of rice from the warehouses of Food Corporation of India (FCI).
About 2.52 lakh tonnes of rice has been supplied to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. FCI officials are also working to meet the requirement from West Bengal.
Telangana also distributed 3 lakh tonnes of free rice among people living below poverty line as part of its aid for the lockdown period.
These developments have brought into focus how Telangana turned around its story. In fact, the jump in paddy production is the second biggest achievement by the state since it was carved out of unified Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
Overcoming electricity shortage was the first major achievement. It was remarkable considering the apprehensions voiced by some people before bifurcation that the new state would plunge into darkness.
The government says Telangana is the only state in the country offering 24x7 power supply to agriculture serving 24.16 lakh farmers. This enabled farmers to irrigate their farms at their desired timing.
Construction of major projects like Kaleswaram, completion of the on-going projects, revival of tanks under Mission Kakatiya besides round-the-clock free power to farmers have all resulted in farmers are getting water in abundance, says Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao.
The area under paddy cultivation was 18.35 lakh acres in Rabi season of 2018-19 and it has more than doubled to 39.12 lakh acres now. This was only 12.23 lakh acres in 2014-15.
The state expects paddy cultivation in 55 to 60 lakh acres during Kharif season which begins with monsoon. It was 40.7 lakh acres last year and a mere 22.7 lakh acres in 2014-15. This is expected to go up to at least 70 lakh acres next year.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, is confident of Telangana cultivating 2.25 crore tonnes paddy every year. This means the yield will be over one crore tonnes in each season.
Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy believes that the state will emerge as the rice bowl of India in three years.
According to him, the completion of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) contributed mainly to the extent of paddy cultivation doubling in just one year.
Ever since forming the first government after achieving the goal of statehood to Telangana, KCR accorded top priority to building irrigation projects with the slogan of 'Bangaru (golden) Telangana' with an aim to irrigate one crore acre. The target was achieved last year.
This coupled with the uninterrupted power supply, financial assistance towards farm inputs and other support systems encouraged more and more farmers to take to paddy cultivation.
In normal days Telangana would have celebrated the occasion. As KCR himself said people would have danced to celebrate it, but outbreak of coronavirus and subsequent lockdown created a challenge both for the state and the farmers.
Though the government exempted agriculture operations the unavailability of labourers due to coronavirus scare and shortage of harvesting machines affected the operations.
The agriculture market yards in towns were shut to avoid large gatherings. As the situation had the potential to cause large-scale distress among farmers, KCR assured them that the government will buy the entire paddy and corn, together cultivated over 50 lakh acres during the current season by opening procurement centres in villages.
"The government is ready to buy every single morsel from farmers and hence the farmers need get panic," KCR said.
He said the government gave bank guarantee for Rs 30,000 crore to buy the entire paddy and corn directly from farmers. "No other state government ever purchased the entire paddy and corn grown in a season. Telangana is the first state which is doing this."
Another problem faced in the procurement is that the labourers from Bihar who constitute 90 per cent of the workforce in rice mills are stuck in their home state. They had gone home to celebrate Holi, but got stranded due to lockdown.
The chief minister has requested Bihar government to send back the workers as loading of procured paddy from farmers on the truck and their unloading at godowns and rice can't be done without them. The chief minister had said he would even request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange special trains to bring back the workers from Bihar.
Source: IANS
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