When the monsoon season arrives, farmers are seen busy sowing groundnuts in the villages. Even though a week has passed since this monsoon season arrived, there is no sign of farmers in the fields anywhere in the district. It has been eight days since the southwest monsoon, which crossed the state of Kerala, reached the district, but there has been no rain except for one day.The southwest monsoon, delayed by a week due to a low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, hit the state of Kerala on the 7th of this month. It moved for four days from there and hit Chittoor and Annamaya districts on the 11th of this month. This caused clouds and drizzle in many places, raising hopes that the monsoon season would arrive. But as expected by the Meteorological Department, whether due to the El Nino effect or not, the rains have taken a backseat. While it rained only last Friday across the district, not a single drop has fallen for five days. There is no sign of rain in the weather.
Farmers believe that sowing groundnuts in the Mrigashira Karte will yield good yields. It is known that Rohini Karte left on the 8th of this month and Mrigashira Karte arrived. In this sequence, they dreamed that the rains would fall and the farmers would be busy in the fields preparing groundnut seeds. But whether it is the effect of El Nino or not, there is no sign of the southwest monsoon. The fields are drying up due to the lack of rain, so the farmers are waiting for rain. If it does not rain in another week or ten days, they will have to plow the fields again.
The district has prepared the ground for the distribution of subsidized peanut seeds to farmers under the auspices of the Agriculture Department. This time, the normal cultivation of peanut for Kharif has been decided at 27,016 hectares for 25 mandals. For this, 36,480 quintals of subsidized peanut seeds have been allocated to the farmers. Of this, 13,780 quintals of K-6 variety, 13,280 quintals of Narayani, and 9,400 quintals of TCGS variety have been prepared. Already, up to 30 percent of the seeds have reached the Rythu Seva Kendras in many mandals. Distribution has also started in some mandals. Farmers are peeling the seeds and preparing them for sowing.