East Godavari ryots score with ‘direct approach’

Transplantation of paddy has been completed in nearly 45 % of the area under cultivation across East Godavari district, thanks to timely rainfall and discharge of floodwater from the River Godavari.

The acreage under the crop in the district during the kharif season is 2.23 lakh hectares .

“The sowing operation is expected to be completed by mid-August,” East Godavari Joint Director (Agriculture) K.V.S. Prasad said.

In the tribal-dominated Chintoor and Rampachodavaram areas, sowing is likely to be completed by August-end as a huge chunk of area under paddy faces threat of inundation due to the flood in the River Godavari and its tributaries which criss-cross the Agency in the district.

Labour problem

The flood in the Godavari came to the rescue of farmers in the central and eastern Godavari deltas, where a majority of farmers have taken to the ‘direct sowing’ method to cut costs and overcome the shortage of workers.

This year, the workers, who normally migrate from the Northern Andhra for the kharif operations, did not turn up due to the COVID situation. “Direct sowing method has been adapted in nearly 45,000 hectares till date. By August-end, an additional 30,000 hectares will be covered under the method,” Mr. Prasad said.

The Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage authorities in their flood report on Monday, put the discharge of floodwater at the the barrage above one lakh cusecs. The water level stood at 9.85 feet.