Vision

To enable each and every farmerachieve sustainable and economical agriculture productivity.

Mission of the Department

• Attain 6% Growth Rate and Increased Returns on investment to farmers through improved Technology
• Effective Extension Reach
• Mechanisation, Marketing tie up, Adequate Credit, Crop Insurance

The Department of Agriculture is performing following functions in the process of sustainable agricultural development.

Services

• Ensuring quality & timely input supply
• Input Regulation
• Soil Testing
• Fertilizer Testing
• Seed Testing
• Pesticides Testing
• Generating Land Resources Database
• Facilitating Credit
• Facilitating Crop Insurance
• The department has enabled the delivery of some of above mentioned services like soil testing, fertilizer, seed, pesticide testing, Input regulation and farm mechanization to farmers through use of Information Technology

Capacity building of farmers

• Organizing pre seasonal Training – Rythu Chaitanya Yatra
• Organizing Rythu Sadassus
• Regular Trainings & Demonstrations through Farmers Trainings Centres
• Fertilizer Testing
• Exposure visits
• Pesticides Testing
• Special training for Farm Women

Re-engineering of Extension Approach

• Annual orientation / capacity enhancement of all the Agril. Extension Staff
• Workshops on Crop Specific Strategies
• Regional Conferences
• Training to staff at SAMETI

Strengthening Research & Extension Linkage

• DAATT Centres
• KVK, ARS

The total geographical area of the state is 114.84 lakh hectares, out of the total geographical area 40.5 per cent is under net area sown, 23.9 per cent is under forests, 10.5 per cent is under current fallow lands, 7.7 per cent is under non-agricultural uses and 5.4 per cent is under barren land uncultivable land. The land utilization particulars during the year 2012-13 are given below.

Agriculture Profile

Agriculture in Telangana is dependent on rainfall and agricultural production depends upon the distribution of rainfall. The influence of South-West monsoon is predominant. South-West Monsoon (79%) is spread over the period from June to September, North-East Monsoon (14%) from October to December and the rest 7% rainfall is received during the winter and summer months.

Telangana (10 districts) receive a normal rainfall of 906.5 mm in a year. The season wise breakup for the year 2012-13 is as follows :

During 2012-13 the Gross Area Irrigated by different sources was 25.57 lakh ha and the net area irrigated was 17.74 lakh ha and the irrigation intensity was 1.44. 

Source Wise Gross Irrigated Area Percentage 2012-13

Crop Wise Irrigated Area

The Crop wise irrigated area in Telangana for important crops for the year 2011-12 in brief is as follows:

Energization of Wells

Wells and tube wells irrigate a Gross Cropped Area of about 22.07 lakh ha in Telangana state and there are 17.61 lakh energized wells with a connected load of 73.75 lakh (K.W). The district wise breakup is as follows:

Cropping Intensity

Cropping intensity is one of the indices for assessing the efficiency of agriculture sector. The cropping intensity i.e. the ratio of Gross Area Sown to Net Area Sown during 2011-12 is 1.16. The level of cropping intensity moves in consonance with the behaviour of the monsoon and availability of irrigation water.

Land Holdings

Agriculture production depends, to a considerable extent, upon the size of the unit of cultivation. According to the census, the average size of land holding per farmer in the state during 2010-11 is at 1.12 hectares and the same is likely to fall below due to further fragmentation of the farm holdings, since more than 70 % of rural population is dependent on Agriculture only.

The total numbers of operational holdings in the State are 55.54 lakhs covering an area of 61.97 lakh hectares. The Number of operational holdings belonging to various categories   and the land operated by them (2010-11) is indicated below:

Cropping Pattern

Telangana grows 27 important crops in Kharif and Rabi seasons put together covering an area of about 53.51 lakh ha. The important crops grown are Rice (14.19) lakh ha, Maize (6.63) lakh ha, Pulses (6.11) lakh ha, Groundnut (1.89) lakh ha, Cotton (18.13) lakh ha, Chillies (0.83) lakh ha and Sugarcane (0.41) lakh ha. Etc. 78.76% of the area is grown in Kharif and the remaining 21.24% is cultivated in Rabi.

Agro Climatic Zones

Based on climatic parameters i.e. Rainfall, Soils and cropping pattern etc., the state (10 districts) is divided in to 4 Agro-climatic zones. The agricultural planning for each zone is supported with the research and recommendations of Regional Agricultural Research Stations of ANGRAU setup within each zone.

Classification of Agro Climatic Zones in Telangana

Following Administrative Offices are situated in various parts of the state.

• Commissionerate of Agriculture:                               Hyderabad
• Office of Joint Directors of Agriculture (9):               Each Dist. Hqrs
• Office of the Asst. Director of Agriculture (102):     Each Agril. Divisional Hqrs

• State Agril. Management and Extension Training Institute: Hyderabad
• Office of MandalAgril. Officer (444): Each MandalH.Qrs.
• Regional Soil Testing Labs (1): Rajendranagar.
• Single Window Diagnostic Facility for seed (8 districts): Khammam, Nizamabad, Medak,  Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad.
• Single Window Diagnostic Facility for fertilizers (6 districts): Khammam, Nizamabad, Medak,  Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda,Karimnagar and Adilabad.
• Mobile Soil Testing Labs (1): Hyderabad.
• Soil Testing Labs in Agril Market Committees: (28).
• Pesticides Testing Labs (2): Rajendranagar, Warangal.
• Bio pesticides Testing Lab: Hyderabad.
• Biological Control Labs (9) Nos.: Rajendranagar (R.R. Dist), Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nizamabad, Khammam, Nalgonda, Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad.
• Bacterial Culture Production Lab. (1): Rajendranagar.
• DNA Fingerprinting and Transgenic Crops Monitoring Laboratory, SAMETI, Hyderabad

 The Department of Agriculture has following categories and strength of staff in Telangana

HoD, COMMISSIONER & DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE, Telangana