The bitter battle of sweet lime farmers
Telangana’s Nalgonda district is grappling with a water crisis, which has worsened due to a surge in unregulated drilling of borewells. Despite recommendations for policy, research interventions, government action is slow and a crop holiday has been declared, leaving farmers without an income and in dire straits, finds P. Laxma Reddy
I was forced to dig 10 borewells this year alone, but found success with only four... I have also installed three motors to ensure 975 trees in my orchard survive NAMIREDDY SRINIVAS REDDY
Sweet lime farmer
Over the past few weeks, 45yearold Namireddy Srinivas Reddy has been contemplating severing the very lifeblood of his existence — his 12acre sweet lime orchard that he has nurtured over 13 years. A dedicated farmer and advocate by profession, Reddy is a resident of Molka Patnam village in Telangana’s Nalgonda district. He owns 17 acres of agricultural land, five acres of which lie fallow in the face of an acute water shortage the region is reeling under.
“I was forced to dig 10 borewells this year alone, but found success with only four, yielding 1.5 inches of water each from three borewells at a depth of 300 feet, and oneinch water from another borewell. I have also installed three motors to ensure the 975 trees in my orchard survive,” says Reddy, who has spent ₹3.35 lakh on the exercise. His predicament mirrors a broader crisis among 13,969 sweet lime farmers across the erstwhile composite Nalgonda district, following a droughtlike situation not witnessed in over a decade.
The Telangana government has announced a crop holiday for the ayacuts of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) and the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project (AMRP) canals. This is the first time such a measure has been taken since the formation of the State a decade ago. This decision comes in response to the water level in the NSP dropping to 514.80 feet against the 590 feet full reservoir level (FRL) as of March 7, perilously close to the dead storage level of 510 feet. The decline in water levels is attributed to poor inflows into the NSP in 2023, and the nonfilling of irrigation tanks with the Krishna river waters through the NSP right canal and AMRP canal.
Wells here, there, everywhere
Nalgonda, renowned for its borewells, is now witnessing a resurgence in drilling activity after a twodecade hiatus. In a bid to save their sweet lime orchards, many farmers are indiscriminately digging borewells, depleting groundwater levels further.
According to figures from the State Agriculture Department, during the winter yasangi (rabi) crop season, the cultivation area (paddy, citrus, and others crops) in the erstwhile Nalgonda district decreased to 6.03 lakh acres, a nearly 50% decline compared to the previous season. Of the total normal cultivation area of 10,16,637 acres, farmers cultivated in 6,03,730 acres, which accounts for 59.3%. This reduction was primarily due to a crop holiday declared for the ayacut of the left canal of the NSP, affecting 3.7 lakh acres of ayacut in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts.
Explaining his ordeal, Shaik Gaffar, 47, a farmer from Damaracherla mandal, says he is trying to save his nineyearold orchard of sweet lime from withering as only two of 16 borewells dug in the last nine years are yielding water now. “Many of us are borrowing water from paddy farmers during summer by paying ₹1 lakh per month for a borewell, which yields one inch of water. My sole aim is to ensure the survival of my trees at any cost for the summer,” he says.
A farmer from Yerrabelli village in Nidamanur mandal attempted to dig a borewell at a depth of 450 feet, but the effort proved futile. The cost of digging a borewell to 300 feet is around ₹30,000.
Sharing an anecdote about a farmer named Byreddy Ram Reddy from Mushampally village in Nalgonda, who, in 2003, had earned the moniker of ‘Borla’ (borewell) Ram Reddy for digging 100 borewells, CPI(M) district secretary Mudireddy Sudhakar Reddy says, “He has dug six borewells this year already, anticipating the water crisis.”
According to data from the Groundwater Department, the water table has plummeted across various mandals. While Nalgonda recorded groundwater at 10.66 metres below ground level (MBGL) in February 2024, the water table was 6.12 MBGL for the same period last year. Water table at 5 MBGL is said to be ideal for farmers to draw sufficient water.
The situation has prompted drastic measures, with farmers resorting to laying pipelines and purchasing water tankers by shelling out huge amounts of money. While there are roughly 25 lakh borewells, and nearly 80% of them have been affected due to the depleting ground water table in the erstwhile Nalgonda district.
Nearly 100 borewells are being drilled every day in Nalgonda since February, most of them unauthorised. To cash in on the situation, borewell drillers have increased charges from ₹50 to ₹180 per inch of drilling, and ₹80 to ₹350 per inch for the installation of PVC pipes. Villagers are also facing a severe shortage of drinking water. Some buy water cans daily from RO plants, while a few gram panchayats are supplying water through tankers mounted on tractors.
According to official data, the total geographical area of Nalgonda district is 17,59,797 acres. This extensive area receives an average annual rainfall of 705 mm, with temperatures ranging from a minimum of 13°C to a maximum of 45°C. The relative humidity varies significantly, reaching a low of 20% and peaking at 98%.
A rainfall deficit last monsoon has played havoc with the farmers. The cumulative rainfall recorded in Nalgonda district from June 1, 2023 to March 7, 2024 was 531.3 mm, as against normal rainfall of 658.7 mm for the period. Suryapet district received 637.7 mm of rainfall as against the normal 739.4 mm, while YadadriBhuvanagiri district recorded 652.5 mm against the normal rainfall of 686.3 mm for the same period.
Citrus conundrum
Citrus, including sweet lime and acid lime, is the secondlargest crop after mango in Telangana. Sweet lime is cultivated on 59,253 acres in erstwhile Nalgonda district. Erstwhile Mahabubnagar is the other district where the fruit is grown. However, the area under citrus is steadily declining, particularly in Nalgonda due to the increasing input cost, lack of government subsidy on the drip irrigation system, and a nonremunerative price in the market. The annual estimated sweet lime production is around 46,000 million tonnes (MTs) in Nalgonda. The fruit is exported to Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The price per tonne is usually ₹ 15,000 to ₹ 40,000.
Harvesting is done over three seasons annually — Ambe Bahar ( JulyAugust), Hastha Bahar (SeptemberOctober), and Mrig Bahar (FebruaryMarch). Input cost ranges between ₹80,000 and ₹1 lakh per acre, and has become a major cause for concern among sweet lime farmers. The spend per acre on micronutrients alone is ₹10,000, while ₹5,000 goes into buying organic manure, and the cost of pesticides, fungicides, and other chemical fertilizers is ₹10,000 per acre annually, say farmers.
Farm labour cost has also been rising by the year. A male worker can be hired for ₹1.60 lakh per year, while a husbandwife worker duo is usually paid ₹2.80 lakh per annum at many places in erstwhile Nalgonda district.
Installation of a drip irrigation system for orchards is another significant expense for each orchard farmer. “Installing a drip facility costs ₹80,000 per acre. Earlier, we used to receive 70% subsidy on the total cost of the system, but it was removed by the previous BRS government,” says Kancharla Surender Reddy, a resident of Marri Gudem village of Tipparthy mandal, who is now laying an underground drip irrigation system at a cost of ₹1 lakh per acre for his sixacre orchard.
Nalgonda, with its proximity to Hyderabad, a distance of about 102 km, provides advantageous marketing opportunities for fruits and vegetables. However, the region faces challenges in infrastructure for processing, value addition, and postharvest management, as well as inadequate availability of quality planting material and credit support from financial institutions.
Farmers’ hopes for fair treatment and reasonable returns on their produce are often dashed by alleged exorbitant commissions and exploitative practices within the fruit market. While many middlemen purchase produce directly from the fields, farmers are compelled to sell their produce at the Bata Singaram fruit market, on the outskirts of Hyderabad city, due to lack of a government market in Nalgonda district.
According to marketing officials, the average price for an MT is ₹17,000 at the Bata Singaram market. “This is not at all remunerative for us. If we get around ₹40,000 per tonne, we can withstand the everincreasing input costs,” says Srinivas Reddy.
But fruit trader Rammohan Reddy argues that there was not much demand for sweet lime in north India due to an extended winter in 2023, and attributed other reasons, including low shelf life for varieties of sweet lime grown in Telangana. “New juice varieties from Maharashtra and other States are also leading to low price for our varieties,” he adds.
Moreover, with nonavailability of quality saplings in Telangana, farmers are forced to travel as far as Tirupati, Railway Kodur, Maha Nandi, and other places in Rayalaseema region of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. “Each plant costs anywhere between ₹50 and ₹120 depending on the variety at the nurseries in Rayalaseema. In one acre, we can plant 80 to 120 saplings. After four years, we can reap the fruit, but the yield will come down after 14 years,” Surender Reddy points out.
Marred by multiple losses
Putta Janardhan Reddy, president of the Sweet Lime Farmers Association, underscores the importance of taking up cultivating Brazilian sweet oranges, a juicy variety, to mitigate losses associated with older varieties.
He also calls for government assistance to farmers in identifying viruses, pests, and other plant diseases by ensuring that scientists from the State horticulture university visit the orchards. One major concern is the prevalence of dry root rot, characterised by symptoms such as yellowing and falling leaves, premature fruit drop, foulsmelling root rot, and total drying of affected plants. Recommendations include selecting plants budded on Rangapur lime, intercropping with green manure crops, and applying treatments like Trichoderma viride culture and Carbendazim soil drench.
Mangu (mite attack) poses another threat, causing tender fruits to lose sap, harden, reduce in size, and lose market value. Several other challenges plague citrus cultivation, including major pests and diseases like bacterial canker, viral diseases, and pest problems, as well as nonavailability of certified quality planting material and poor soil conditions.
To address these issues, policy recommendations include establishing citrus nurseries, cold storage facilities, and promoting drip irrigation, organic manures, and biofertilizers. The formation of farmer producer organisations and strengthening of market infrastructure are also proposed. Research recommendations focus on optimising Bahar treatment, fertilizer schedules, and irrigation management to enhance yield and market competitiveness. These recommendations were deliberated upon at a Statelevel workshop on ‘Revival of Citrus in Telangana’ in March last year, with the aim of addressing the declining trend in citrus cultivation and maximising its potential in the region. But they are yet to be implemented by the government.
District Horticulture and Sericulture Officer Sangeetha Laxmi says she has taken the issues of sweet lime farmers to the government’s notice. “The government is likely to revive the subsidy on drip irrigation system. Under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, it is planning to give subsidy to dig farm ponds to store water, thus helping increase the ground water table.” The government is also planning to set up integrated packhouses and solar cold storage rooms for packing sweet lime at Kattangur village, she adds.