The onset of southwest monsoon in time has brought cheers to farmers in Prakasam district who have begun cultivation of kharif crops with lots of hopes.

Thanks to the recent wet spell across the district, farmers have started preparing their land for sowing various rain-fed crops. Karamchedu has recorded a rainfall of 193 mm so far this month followed by N.G.Padu(171 mm), S.N.Padu(157 mm), Tangutur(130 mm), Parchur(126mm), Singarayaonda(123mm), Ongole(113 mm) and Inkollu(103 mm), according to a report compiled by the office of the Chief Planning Officer.

‘A good demand likely’

Wearing masks, farmers began sowing of coarse grains, pulses and oil seeds across the district. “Though we had faced some problems initially during the lockdown, we could market our produce without much difficulty later. We don’t expect the demand for various crops to dip during the year,” said a group of farmers while preparing their land for cultivation at Motumala, near Kothapatnam.

“We are fully aware of the hygiene etiquette to be followed during pandemic times,” said another group of farmers cultivating groundnut in Padarthi. They were educated on all the do’s and don’ts by the agriculture staff to avoid contracting the disease.

‘30% excess rainfall’

For the first time after several years, the drought-prone district has received 30% excess rainfall in the month of June and July so far giving impetus to farm operations, said Agriculture Joint Director P.V. Sriramamurthy. With nine rainy days during the period, the district on an average has received 57.5 mm rainfall.

Sowing has been taken up in over 3,000 hectares so far, taking advantage of the early rains. Pulses accounted for a crop coverage of 221 hectares, oil seeds 383 hectares and coarse grains 128 hectares. The sowing is expected to go up in the next fortnight or so, department officials said.

Expecting the monsoon to bring more rains in the next couple of months, the Agriculture department set an ambitious crop coverage target of 2.44 lakh hectares during this kharif as against the normal acreage of 2.18 hectares. The department expects red gram cultivation to cross a record 1.14 lakh-hectare mark during this cropping season.