Hyderabad, July 03: The unreliable rainfall, which played truant so far, has become a matter of worry for the state government as apprehensions over the Kharif crop increased.
The erratic nature of the rainfall can be gauged by the fact that in Krishna district, the rain was reported in excess while four other districts reported scanty rainfall, while the remaining 13 districts reported deficit rains.
“The June 1 to September 30, (122 days) rainfall this season turned out to be erratic,” said Disaster Management Commissioner T Radha in an exclusive interview with INN at the Secretariat on Saturday.
Mr Radha said that out of 122 days, 32 have days passed off, and the Bay of Bengal appears to be quiet so far, which is a cause of worry for the state.
“Unless there is a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, drought conditions may affect the region,” Mr Radha said.
In the past 122 days not even 2 MM rain has been recorded but the average rainfall by now is said to be 2.57 MM. The deficit so far recorded was said to be -38 MM.
In Hyderabad, Medak, Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts, there was scanty rainfall while in Krishna it is in excess and while in five districts, Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Nellore, Chittoor and Khammam, normal rains were reported. In the remaining 13 districts, the rainfall has been deficient so far.
In 2009, due to deficit rainfall, drought was announced on August 15, while in May 2010, due to the cyclone, heavy rains lashed the state. In contrast, in 2011 deficit was reported in May/June.
Kharif crop was sown in over 3.74 lakh hectares in 2010 and in 3.02 lakh hectares in 2011 in nine Coastal Andhra districts, by June ending, which is far less than the normal figure that is 24.41 lakh hectares.
In 2011, in Rayalaseema districts, 1.81 lakh hectares was sown by June ending and in 2010, 3.21 lakh hectares was sown by June ending, which was also reported to be below normal.
In Telangana districts in 2010, 10.24 lakh hectares was sown by June ending while in 2011, by June ending, only 7.37 lakh hectares was sown.
The Disaster Management Commissioner explained that in Kharif season, normally 78.11 lakh hectares should be sown but due to the abnormal conditions, the sowing area has come down in the years cited.
——–Agencies