Telangana Paddy Varieties Saving Water and Popular in These States

According to experts, this has saved one thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) of water per season from roughly one lakh acres of paddy production. Telangana Sona, Kunaram 1638, Warangal 962, Jagtial 94423, Kunaram 118, Tella Hamsa, and MTU 1010 are among of the state's prominent paddy types.

During the formation of the state, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) released various paddy varieties that took more than six years to create.

"We have the most paddy kinds that demand the least amount of water. Several of these types are currently used in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra," stated R Jagadeeshwar, former director of research at PJTSAU and the person in charge of these varieties. During an explanation of their significance, Jagadeeshwar stated that the number of days for paddy cultivation was lowered from 150 to 125.

"When these varieties are sown, the per-acre water requirement for paddy is reduced by 500 litres (from 3,000 to 2,500 litres), saving 1 tmc ft of water for one lakh acre of crop," he explained. These paddy types yield between 2,400 and 2,600 kilogrammes per acre. Former PJTSAU vice-chancellor V Praveen Rao stated that producing these cultivars has benefited not only farmers but also water conservation.

"The most water-intensive crop is paddy. Farmers should therefore be encouraged to employ these types in the long run," he stated. The Government declared in Parliament that 69 less water-demanding/drought-tolerant field crop varieties, including 17 rice varieties, would be created in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

These cultivars are believed to be grown on more than 70% of Telangana's paddy area. Many different paddy cultivation methods, such as direct seeding, wet direct seeding, and drum seeding, have recently been promoted in place of conventional transplanting, which will indirectly reduce the need for water while also lowering cultivation costs, according to experts.