Rice in Andhra Pradesh

Area and Production

Andhra Pradesh ranks fourth in terms of the nation's rice-growing area (3.98 million ha) but second in terms of rice production (17.8 million tonnes) as of 2007. Paddy production during 1997-98 to 2006-07 fluctuated from 12.8 million tonnes to 18.7 million tonnes. Paddy productivity (4.48 t ha-1) is also higher than the national average. Rice is cultivated in all 22 districts of the state and productivity is higher than the national average in 20 districts. The state plays a significant role in rice supply to the national pool and the contribution in 2006-07 was 12.6 percent. The state's area of rice cultivation decreased from 3.6 million ha in 1995-96 to 3.0 million ha in 2004-05, which resulted in decrease in production from 9.216 million tonnes to 8.953 million tones.1

Rice Ecosystems

1. In Telangana region: Irrigated ecosystem, Rainfed low land eco system
2. Coastal Andhra Pradesh: Irrigated eco system, Submergence conditions, Rainfed lowland eco system
3. Rayala Seema : Irrigated ecosystem

Irrigated Ecosystem: Rice crop is mostly grown under different sources of irrigation under puddled conditions by growing dry or wet nurseries. Field is prepared with desi plough drawn by he buffaloes or by tractors. Transplantation is mostly done by contract labour by random planting method called “Chikku natu” where plant population is low.

Rainfed low land Eco System: In Kothaguda, Mulugu agency area of Warangal district, Bhadrachalam area of Khammam district and also is some parts of North Coastal area, dry nursery is raised with the on set of monsoon. The field is bunded so that the rain water from upper area gets accumulated in the field and crop resembles as if it is grown as a transplanted crop. Sometimes after dry sowing, the field is converted to wet cultivation as and when water is available. This practice is common in Visakhapatnam and Sri Kakulam district.

Rainfed Ecosystem: In some North Coastal districts and Telangana area, rice is cultivated as a rainfed crop. Varieties grown under this condition are Akasavari, MTU-9992, MTU-17, mettasannalu, Varalu and all these varieties have drought resistance. They are sown behind the plough or seed drill. Some times red gram or hibiscus is taken as an intercrop. Rainfed rice varieties face intermittent drought spells. They have very good ability to recover from drought in seedling stage and maximum losses occur, if the drought prevails at flowering stage.

Main Regions

Andhra Pradesh state has been divided into 9 Agro-climatic zones based on the amount and distribution of rainfall pattern.

1. North Coastal Zone: Consists of most parts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam districts with Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Anakapalli as regional centre. This zone receives 1000-1100 mm rainfall and possesses 12.6% of rice area..
2. Godavari Zone: Comprising East and West Godavari districts with Regional agricultural Research Station (RARS), Maruteru as regional centre. Annual rainfall varies from 800-1100 mm and has 46.5% of rice area of the state..
3. Krishna Zone : Consists of Krishna, Guntur, Parts of Prakasam, Khammam and Nalgonda with Regional Agricultural Research Station, (RARS), Lam as regional centre. Important soil groups are deltaic Alluvium, red soils with clay base, black cotton soils, red loamy coastal sands and saline soils.
4. Northern Telangana Zone: Comprising Adilabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar with Regional Agricultural Research Station, (RARS), Jagtial as regional centre. Rain fall varies from 900-1150 mm and rice occupies 16% of rice area of the state.
5. Central Telangana Zone: Consisting of Warangal, Medak and Khammam with Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Warangal as regional centre.
6. Southern Telangana Zone: Comprising the districts of Hyderabad Rangareddy, Mahboobnagar, Nalgonda with Regional Agricultural Research Station, (RARS) at Palem as regional centre. This zone receives 700-900 mm rainfall and has 9.3% of rice area of the state.
7. Southern Zone: Includes the districts of Nellore, Chittoor Cuddapah with Regional Agricultural Research (RARS), at Tirupathi as regional centre. Annual rainfall varies from 700-1000 mm and has about 12.6% of rice area of the state.
8. Scarce rainfall zone: Consisting of the districts of Kurnool, Anantapur, Prakasham parts of Cudapah and Mahboobnagar with Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) at Nandyal as Regional Centre. This zone has 3.8% of rice area. The average annual rainfall ranges from 500-700mm.
9. High Altitude and Tribal area zone: Covering areas lying along the Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and Khammam district with Regional Agricultural Research Station, Chintapalli as Regional centre. This zone receives high rainfall of over 1400 mm.

See also Agro climatic zones of Andhra Pradesh http://goo.gl/d66NH

Technologies and New trends

SRI methodologies offer attractive opportunities for farmers in Andhra Pradesh to save water while increasing their rice output. It is obvious from farmer experiences that SRI has the advantage of cost effectiveness and increased yield per unit area when compared to conventional paddy cultivation. However, there are some areas, such as motorizing the conoweeder, training farm labour, developing location-specific SRI packages and institutional linkages which need to be addressed for up-scaling SRI in the state. It is for the policy makers to realize that more impetus needs to be given for large-scale adoption of SRI in the state. See also WASSAN http://goo.gl/6m28C See also One Seed Revolution Video http://goo.gl/4mJrd

References

1. SRI.net http://goo.gl/Q4V2J
2. Status paper on Rice in Andhra Pradesh http://goo.gl/YD1Fm