This Rabi Season Telangana Farmers Growing Vegetables Instead Of Paddy

Telangana farmers are now facing a challenge for the upcoming rabi season which starts from the first week of october and extends till january , Since the State government has advised farmers not to cultivate paddy crop, as the centre has stated that it would not purchase rabi produce.

After setting a record for paddy production in recent seasons, Farmers are now concerned as to which crops to cultivate for the coming season.

The state government has recently introduced various policies and programs to encourage farmers to grow horticultural crops such as giving drip irrigation subsidies, supplying quality vegetable seeds and many more, However vegetable cultivation indeed is proven to be profitable as the demand for vegetables has grown since the income and consumption patterns of people has changed, with per capita consumption of vegetables rising from 95 to 175 gram per day over the last decade.

The push from paddy cultivation to vegetable growing will change the landscape of agriculture with an increased area for horticulture crops. However, there are few challenges in the state for vegetable sector which include

Challenges for vegetable farming sector:

• Unfavorable conditions, particularly during the summer, such as high temperatures and groundwater depletion
• Micro irrigation, Fertigation, Mulching, Shade Nets, Integrated nutrient management, Integrated pest management, and other modern technologies are not being used, resulting in low production
• High labour costs are incurred due to increased labour demand for intercultural operations such as weeding, harvesting, sorting, and grading.
• Post harvest losses of vegetables are high due to their perishable nature
• Insufficient market linkages and a lack of knowledge on updated market rates
• Price fluctuations

In order to overcome the above challenges Telangana government has introduced the concept of vegetable crop colonies. Vegetable sowings that are uncontrolled and unorganised, resulting in either a surplus or a shortage of vegetables which in turn results in price fluctuations, creating problems for both farmers and consumers.

Concept of crop colonies:

Crop colonies concept involves evaluating vegetable demand for a municipality, city, or town based on local consumption patterns and promoting vegetable production in cluster form depending on soil type, season, and climatic conditions, The major aim behind this to increase the income of telangana vegetable farmers as well as the distribution of vegetables to consumers at affordable prices all over the year.