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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Andhra Pradesh fast running out of green fields -Gali Nagaraja

Andhra Pradesh fast running out of green fields -Gali Nagaraja

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published Published on Oct 21, 2015   modified Modified on Oct 21, 2015
-The Times of India

VIJAYAWADA: Gradual decline in the overall cropped area casts a shadow over the state government's ambitious target of achieving double digit growth. Although Andhra Pradesh registered 12.52 per cent in the first quarter of 2015-16, it is quite unlikely that the target will become a reality in the long run, say experts and peasant leaders. Lending credence to such worries, agriculture and allied sectors (Rs 9,854 crore) contributed more to the gross state domestic product (GSD) during Q1 than the other sectors.

A study carried out by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, a Hyderabad-based research organisation, before the state's bifurcation revealed that 20-25 lakh acres in undivided Andhra Pradesh went out of cultivation in the last 18 years. The bizarre trend began way back in 1991.The study also revealed that a huge chunk of 8.27 lakh acres was put to non-agricultural use such as real estate, educational institutions, special economic zones (SEZs), construction of warehouses, infrastructure and irrigation projects.

In Visakhapatnam alone, one of the five sample districts chosen for the study, more than 20,000 acres of land was taken over for SEZs, which includes creation of a petroleum and petrochemical investment region (PCPIR) proposed in 604 sq km involving 1.49 lakh acres of fertile agricultural lands, said the study.

Akkiveni Bhavani Prasad, an analyst in agriculture issues, told TOI that there has been a sharp decrease in cropped area by 2.5 lakh hectares in 13 districts of the bifurcated state in the last two years. The state has a cropped area of 80.59 lakh acres of which food crops account for 49.73 lakh acres and non-food crops 30.84 lakh acres.

The nine coastal districts produce 69 lakh tonne of food grains from 20.86 lakh hectares annually while the remaining four districts in Rayalaseema region about 8.5 lakh tonne from 2.6 lakh hectares, according to official data. Prasad estimated the drop in food grains production to be around 15-20 per cent. The undivided state used to produce 60 lakh tonne of food grains per year even as the data related to the status of the bifurcated state in this regard is not available.

Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham secretary Penamakuri Kesava Rao ascribed the lack of economic viability in paddy cultivation to the use of land for non-agricultural purposes. A large number of farmers have even been shifting to alternative farming activities like maize cultivation and aquaculture as a substitute to paddy in coastal districts. The data revealed that an extent of 8.8 lakh acres has been used for change of crop in favour of maize.

Even as vegetables and horticulture crops take a lion's share in crop diversification, the capital city gobbled up more than 120 varieties of vegetable and horticulture crops in 13 villages under the capital region. Kesava Rao said another 20,000 acres out of 30,000 acres notified for the Machilipatnam port would go out of paddy cultivation.

The threat to food security might not be felt immediately in view of increasing productivity and production thanks to hybrid paddy varieties which make AP a surplus in food production. But it is sure to stalk the state in the near future if the trend continues unabated, Bhavani Prasad warned.

The Times of India, 19 October, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Andhra-Pradesh-fast-running-out-of-green-fields/articleshow/49450221.cms


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