New Telangana milestone: Mega crop acreage

Telangana reached yet another milestone this Kharif season by raising crops in a whopping 1.36 crore acres, which is the highest in the country, percentage-wise. That it seems to be slowly turning into the rice bowl of India is borne out by the quantum of the staple the Food Corporation of India sourced from the state during the last Rabi season—as much as half of the total procurement across the country.

In a complete turnaround within six years, ever since the formation of Telangana in 2014, the state has proved its naysayers wrong. One of the arguments against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was that people in Telangana would be pushed to starvation as its farmers did not know how to raise a decent crop. The green revolution kicked in after CM K Chandrashekar Rao took up big-ticket projects like Mission Kakatiya (revival of irrigation tanks) and construction of the mega Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.

Though the ayacut under Kaleshwaram originally envisaged is yet to be achieved, feeding water to various ongoing irrigation projects by diverting the Godavari through the lift irrigation scheme is clearly helping North Telangana enhance its crop area. Besides his thrust on irrigation, KCR offered 24x7 free power supply to agriculture pump sets and Rs10,000 to farmers for each acre of cultivated land under the Rythu Bandhu (investment support) scheme.

That apart, nature was kind to Telangana. Though the opposition is trying to underplay the achievement, saying credit should go to the Rain God and the projects constructed during their tenure in power, good rains on earlier occasions did not translate into enhanced crop area the way it has this year. That said, the government should watch out for black swans in the form of price crashing as bumper production could lead to a glut in the market.

Helping farmers get good yield is one thing but ensuring an equally good price for it is another. The government should quickly strengthen marketing facilities to prevent distress sale. The CM should also ensure equitable development by speeding up the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation scheme, which would benefit South Telangana.