One of the prudent things that cotton farmers in the former composite Adilabad district have done was to terminate their kharif crop in November-December last year at the suggestion of Agriculture Department and scientists.
The result of experts’ advice?
The prospect of a good harvest of the bengal gram that they cultivated in rabi after uprooting cotton.
Officials and scientists had suggested that farmers desist from prolonging the life of the cotton crop by irrigating it beyond December to prevent pink bollworm pestilence. The usual practice among farmers is to harvest cotton even in March.
Increased yields
“The area under bengal gram cultivation is 32,000 hectares in Adilabad district alone, an increase of about 10,000 hectares over the normal extent,” disclosed Adilabad Agriculture Officer (Technical) K. Shiva Kumar that more farmers have opted for this crop.
“The yield is likely to be in the range of eight to nine quintals per acre in case of early sowings (October to end-November) and about six quintals for those who went in for sowing in December,” he added.
The government will purchase bengal gram, around five lakh quintals, once harvesting of the crop starts towards the end of February. The minimum support price (MSP) which will be ₹ 4,875 per quintal.
Assured purchase
The Marketing Department has already proposed to purchase red gram through 10 centres. The expected production of red gram in the 24,000 hectare extent in which it has been cultivated in Adilabad is about two lakh quintals.
“The government will purchase about 1.5 lakh quintals of red gram as the remaining 50,000 quintals will be held back by farmers for personal consumption. The farmers stand to benefit through the MSP operations,” Mr. Shiva Kumar added.