Hyderabad: For farmers in Waddepalle, every rainless day now carries a price tag. Seeds sown in the ground have dried up before germinating, forcing some to resow chilli and cotton three to four times in the hope that the next spell of rain finally lets the crop take root. Drip irrigation systems, ordinarily used to boost yields, are now being run just to keep seeds and standing crops alive.
Farmers said the combined cost of repeated sowing, seed and drip irrigation has already added Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 an acre to their expenses this season, a burden that falls hardest on tenant farmers, who must bear cultivation costs without owning the land. Cultivators in Manopad, Itikyala, Alampur and Waddepalle said the dry conditions have persisted for weeks, leaving them dependent on whatever water source they can find.
According to the Times of India, Waddepalle in Jogulamba Gadwal is now the worst-hit mandal in Telangana, recording a 73 percent rainfall deficit between June 1 and September 1. Kethepalle in Nalgonda is close behind at 71 percent. Nine other mandals across the state also recorded deficits of 60 percent or more over the same period: Atmakur in Hanamkonda (64 percent), Atmakur in Wanaparthy (63 percent), Palakurthi and Raghunathpalli in Jangaon, Peddakothapalle in Nagarkurnool and Yerrupalem in Khammam (61 percent each), and Palakeedu in Suryapet, Narsampet in Warangal and Yerravalli in Jogulamba Gadwal (60 percent each).
Kethepalle’s numbers are stark against last year’s. In September 2024, the mandal received 168 mm of rain in a single 24-hour spell during a depression-driven downpour. This year, it has recorded only 124.9 mm, compared with a normal of 431.5 mm for the same June-September window.
The mandal is predominantly a cotton-growing area, though some farmers have taken up paddy this season in pockets with irrigation support, including tail-end areas served by the Musi, which has offered a partial cushion.
Officials said Kethepalle has not yet slipped into a drought-like situation, pointing to healthy paddy yields in the previous season and in earlier years, but cautioned that a prolonged dry spell from here could change that. Free seeds have already been handed out to farmers under the Centre’s Kapas Kranti Mission, and officials plan to gather village-level feedback on crop conditions to decide what further support may be needed.
What happens next in these mandals hinges on more than just rainfall. Officials said the eventual impact on yields will depend on the crop’s growth stage, existing soil moisture, access to irrigation, and whether rain returns meaningfully in September.
The dry spell is unfolding against the backdrop of El Niño. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said El Niño tends to weaken the Indian summer monsoon, with the effect growing stronger later in the season, particularly in September, and had earlier forecast a below-normal 2026 southwest monsoon at 90% of the Long Period Average (LPA).
Even so, officials caution that the extreme, 70 percent-plus deficits seen in Waddepalle and Kethepalle cannot be attributed to El Niño alone, since local weather systems and uneven rainfall distribution also drive mandal-level outcomes. The IMD’s latest extended-range outlook points to subdued rainfall activity over peninsular India in the near term, leaving the state’s rain-fed farms waiting to see if September delivers the relief they need.
