Sources from Nirmal had stated that the crop area during the current rabi season has more than doubled in Nirmal district thanks to last monsoon’s good rainfall. The rainy season, which saw about 5 % excess rainfall, filled up tanks and projects besides recharging the ground water across the district?
“Against a normal area of 72,000 acres in rabi season, we have nearly 1.6 lakh acres under different crops so far this season,” Nirmal District Agriculture Officer K. Gangaram said that “All the bore wells are active as local tanks have water in them".
It was stated that the groundwater in the district is available
at 8.45 meters on an average for the month of February against the 7.52 meters
recorded in January this year. Last year, water level stood at 14.35 meters in
February and was 11.65 meters in the same month in 2015. Paddy transplantation
has seen a quantum jump this season covering an area of nearly 57,000 acres
against a normal of 24,000 acres.
Further it was stated that SRSP, which irrigates about 40,000 acres in the district through the 47 km long Saraswathi canal is full and paddy farmers look to a good crop season ahead. Similarly, Kadem project has the reservoir level pegged at 686.225 ft against a full reservoir level of 700 ft. Swarna project in Sarangapur mandal and Sadarmat in Khanapur mandal are also full. Both these facilities irrigate some 7,000 acres each.
