10 years of Telangana: Ushering in green revolution, State emerges rice bowl of India

HYDERABAD: A decade ago Telangana was belittled that its people were taught to eat rice, forgetting the fact that paddy is the second-largest grown crop in the region after cotton in early ‘50s, before merging with Andhra Pradesh.

However, over the years, lack of irrigation facilities and timely inputs affected Telangana’s mainstay, agriculture. After the formation of a separate Telangana and the radical improvement in irrigation facilities, there is a metamorphosis in farming.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Telangana during the 2021-22 fiscal became the fourth-largest foodgrain producer in the country. While total grain production was 2.3 crore tons, paddy production was around 1.5 crore tons during the vanakalam (Kharif) season of the fiscal.

The data suggested that the newborn state accounted for 13.6 percent of the 15 crore tons of food grain in the country. Telangana’s foodgrain production which was merely 68 lakh tons during 2014 soared to 3.5 crore tons by 2021-22. Paddy which requires liberal and regular doses of water accounted for 2.3 crore tons (in both seasons) of foodgrain production. During the current fiscal (2023-24) yasangi (Rabi) season, paddy has been cultivated on a record 55.71 lakh acres.

The Union Agricultural ministry’s kharif season procurement data confirmed that Telangana was the second largest contributor of rice after Punjab. Telangana catapulted into pole position in the nation, as it is now considered among the states with improved irrigation facilities such as Punjab and Haryana that have canal irrigation systems in place. Other states like Andhra Pradesh, once considered the rice bowl of the country, lagged behind due to stagnated irrigation potential and lack of input subsidies.

Telangana, the Annapoorna

While the national forecast of grain production was not encouraging, Telangana’s vanakalam production of paddy alone was pegged at 1.7 crore tons, making it the single largest paddy producer in the country. With the “Koti Ekarala Magani” dream becoming a reality, the state is cultivating crops in a whopping 1.34 acres of land, registering a seasonal increase of 14 lakh acres compared to the last vanakalam season.Impetus to agriculture

The transformation from a rainfed to a progressive agricultural state was made possible by a plethora of initiatives that the Telangana government has undertaken right from the formation of the state. Rythubandhu, farmer insurance, crop loan waiver, input subsidy, provision of 24x7 free electricity, construction of warehouses, and construction of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project to provide abundant irrigation to crop fields have yielded good results.

Increase in production

As a result of the pro-farmer policies that the government has been implementing, the total crop area which was 1,43,49,186 acres in 2013-14, almost got doubled to 2,08,72,978 acres in 2022-23. Similarly, the area under paddy cultivation which was 49,63,068 acres in 2013-14, hit 97,97,785 acres in 2021-22, the percentage increase is a whopping 97.

On the other hand, the area under cotton which was 42,32,403 acres during 2013-14, reached 46,68,058 acres in 2021-22, registering a 10 percent increase. The area under red gram during 2013-14 was 6,51,163 acres and it reached 7,77,098 acres by 2021-22 an increase of 19.34 percent.

Paddy production which was 99,33,471 Metric tons (MTs) in 2013-2014 reached 2,48,65,662 Mts in 2021-22 the increase was 150 percent. Cotton rose from 42,65,000 bales in 2013-14 to 63,97,985 bales in 2021-22, registering a 50 percent increase, red gram production in 2013-14 was 1,39,585 Mts jumping to 4,69,016 Mts in 2021-22.