The Krishna delta, which spans across the West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts, has witnessed 98% sowing while it is only 89% in all the 13 districts put together at the end of the kharif.
Claiming total credit for it, the Department of Water Resources said this was possible because of the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Project. According to data furnished by the office of Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, 113.77 tmcft was received by the Prakasam Barrage from sources below the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and the Pattiseema Scheme till November 7, that is three weeks into rabi. The water utilised for the kharif was pegged at 97.17 tmcft, the remaining 16.60 tmcft goes into the rabi account.
While not even a single tmcft was released from Nagarjuna Sagar, 79.49 tmcft Godavari water was received from Pattiseema and 39.65 tmcft from streams and rivulets that join the Krishna downstream Nagarjuna Sagar.
The entire 113.77 tmcft had been released into the various canals of the delta.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said wealth worth ₹10,000 crore was generated with agriculture and aquaculture taken up in the 10.87 lakh acres in the delta.
While paddy was sown in 11,07,590 acres, sugarcane was sown in 24,213.8 acres and aquaculture taken up in 1,69,570 acres during kharif. Paddy farmers are upbeat as the Central government has enhanced the minimum support prize (MSP) by ₹80 per quintal increasing the rates of common variety to ₹1,550 a quintal and ‘A’ Grade paddy to ₹1,590 a quintal, Agriculture department sources said.
Last year, farmers got up a maximum yield of up to 50 bags (75 kg) per acre. The same is being expected this year, said Tummala Vishal, of Raavipalem in Mopidevi Mandal.