Date:17/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/17/stories/2007081762091100.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra farmers strike it rich in Karimnagar district

K. M. Dayashankar

SAIDAPUR (KARIMNAGAR DT.): Farmers from Andhra region, who had migrated to the district in search of employment, seem to have struck ‘gold’.

The enterprising lot is cultivating crops by taking land on lease from local farmers and producing more yields by adopting innovative techniques.

Andhra farmers have transformed barren lands into fertile fields with their technology in farming and have become role models for farmers of upland regions of the district.

In Saidapur mandal, which was once considered barren, is now the most happening mandal in the district with farmers utilising each acre for cultivation and growing commercial crops such as cotton, pulses, chillies and Bengal gram.

No barren land

During a visit to the mandal, it was found that there was no barren land left and it was all developed for cultivation. Farmers have started using tractors for tilling and for spraying pesticide. It all started some six years ago, when farmers from Prakasam district migrated to Saidapur mandal and started cotton cultivation.

They took land on lease from landlords, who had left their fields barren and migrated to the cities for various reasons including the naxalite threat, and started cultivation.

K. Venkateshwara Rao of Prakasam district said he was cultivating about 150 acres of land in Saidapur, Bejjanki and Jammikunta mandals of the district.

“I had taken barren land on lease at the rate of Rs. 400 per acre and over the years after its development, the lease amount is up at Rs. 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per acre.”

Chilukuri Srinivas of Prakasam district, who took 20 acres on lease said, “We migrated to the upland regions of the district to cultivate cotton and earn profits as in Andhra our crops would be prone to frequent cyclones.”