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1.0 INTRODUCTION
a) General
Information
The state of Andhra Pradesh situated between 12o 41’ and 220 N 40’ latitude and 770 and 840 40 E longitude It is bounded by Madhya Pradesh and Orissa in the North, the Bay of Bengal in the east, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the South and Maharasthra in the West. Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest in India. Its area is 275,045 Km2 making for 21.34% of India’s geographic area. The population of Andhra Pradesh in 2001 was 7,57,27,541, comprising 3,82,86,811 Males and 3,74,40,730 Females. It formed 7.4% of India’s population. Population density in the state was 242/Km2. The major source of irrigation is lift canal irrigation, wells and tube wells. The north rainfall varies from less than 600 mm in western Rayalaseema to more than 1000 mm in the north and north eastern part of the state reaching as high as 150o mm close to the north eastern border across Eastern Ghat. The state of Andhra Pradesh is largely dependent in Agriculture. About 70% of the total population depends on farming and it is one of the India’s main rice producing states. (b) Agro and sub Agro- Climatic Zones Andhra Pradesh falls in the Agro Climatic Zone-X which is called as “Southern Plateau and Hills Region”. Andhra Pradesh is divided into three regions, (i) Coastal Andhra Pradesh (ii) Telangana and (iii) Rayalaseema. Now it is divided into seven sub-agro climatic zones. Krishna-Godavari, North Costal, Southern, Northern Telangana, Southern Telangana, Scarce rainfall Zone of Rayalaseema and High Altitude Tribal Zones. Categories of soils in Andhra Pradesh are Black, Alluvial, Loamy Clay, Sandy and Laterite soils. In Andhra Pradesh temperature varies considerably, depending on the Geographical region, the temperature ranges between 200 C and 410 C. The rainfall is the most dominant climatic factor. Average rainfall varies from min. 500 to max. 1500 mm, received in the month of June to September. In Telangana it is between 900-1500mm mostly from west monsoon, in Southern Telangana it is between 700-900 mm from South West monsoon. In Scarce rainfall Zone varies between 500 -750 mm from both South of Rayalaseema west and north east monsoons. (c) Cropping Pattern The major crops grown in the State in kharif season are paddy, cotton and ground nut and in rabi season the major crops are paddy and sunflower. The other main crops in the state are black gram, sugarcane and tobacco. The overall per cent area irrigated in the State under category of farmers not having tractors (NHT) is 38% and under category of farmers having tractors (HT), it is 49%. The overall Cropping Intensity under NHT category of farmers is 133% while under HT category of farmers, it is 145%. Majority of the formers, i.e. about 67% have land holding upto 2 ha, 19% farmers have 2-4 ha and only 10% farmers have above 4 ha land holding under NHT category of farmers. While about 1.3% farmers have land each in holding size upto 2 ha and above 4 ha and 0.7% farmers have land holding of 2-4 ha under HT category of farmers. (e) Scope of Farm Mechanization: As in the rest of India, there has been a steady shift from animal power to electro-mechanical sources of power in Andhra Pradesh although the rate of change has been slower than that of the leading agricultural States. The availability of power is estimated at 1.38 kW/ha. Out of this about 90% comes from tractors, engines and motors. There is great scope of mechanisation in the state. A large number of front line demonstrations need to be conducted for popularization of the newly developed farm equipment. Efforts are on to develop equipment for SRI method of paddy cultivation under the All India Coordinated Research Project on Farm Implements and Machinery. |
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