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A farmer at Shahbad in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh preparing to plough his land. The farmers of the State have not lost their hopes on good rainfall despite a delayed monsoon. Adding to their woes, one-third of the groundwater basins in the State have turned critical.

HYDERABAD, July 21

THE southwest monsoon came on dot in the first week of June. It rained quite well for about two weeks, to the delight of the farmers and the urban dwellers hoping to see the end of a looming drinking water crisis.

However, for over a month thereafter, with the monsoon fighting shy, but for scattered clouds, Andhra Pradesh like many other states is on the verge of getting into a drought situation. As on last week, 890 out of the 1,100 mandals in the State have recorded deficit rainfall.

The State Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, who reviewed the power and rainfall situation recently, said the State was reeling under a power crisis from July 4 due to a combination of factors, triggered by low inflows into the reservoirs and consequently fall in hydel generation.

The prolonged dry spell is ominous with the agriculture operations in a very critical stage. If it does not rain in the coming few days, the consequences would be bad for the agriculture production, said officials.

A clear indication of the difficult situation ahead is the fact that the southwest monsoon has so far brought in a rainfall of 101.7 mm against the normal realisation of 186 mm. The shortfall is spread across the entire three regions of Telengana, Rayalseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

With the weak monsoon showing signs of revival under the influence of a trough formed over the northwest Bay of Bengal, moderate to heavy rainfall has been forecast by the Meteorological Department over the coming few days in all the regions of the State. Good rainfall in the coming weeks can help make up the deficit suffered so far and salvage the agricultural operations, officials said.

The scattered rainfall during the past two days, has brought in cheer on the difficult power situation, with the peak demand coming down to 120 million units/day against 140 million units the previous week, and hope on the farm front. The predominantly paddy growing State requires timely rainfall to nourish the standing crop.

Even last year deficit rainfall in 17 out of the 25 districts, covering 912 mandals had pushed some parts into a drought. The monsoon arrived early, only to be followed by an extended dry spell. The State Government obtained Rs 220 crore from the Centre under the `State calamities relief fund', of which it spent Rs 120 crore on various works. It also received 3 million tonnes of rice free of cost under the food for work programme

While the State Government was preparing contingency plans for the entire State, at the district level, contingency plans were being prepared by the Departments of Animal Husbandry, Agriculture and panchayati raj to meet the challenges of drinking water, fodder and crop-based requirements.

The Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University has prepared a report on crop strategies and contingency plans for 2002-03. Stating that the progress of the southwest monsoon has not been good, the report has comprehensively dealt with a strategy to be adopted in case of failure of monsoon.

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