Drought in Mahaboobnagar District Andhra Pradesh, India - A Case Study (2002) Study commissioned by SACI-Waters, Hyderabad.

The incidence of drought is a recurring problem in Mahaboobnagar district.  Along with this district, coincidentally, the whole of southern Telangana experience drought situation regularly.  These recurring droughts had an impact on the economic-system of Mahaboobnagar and made it fragile.  The age old system of traditional occupation such as agriculture, cattle and sheep rearing are decreasing, though agriculture still is an occupation of the majority of the population in this district, the changes in the cropping pattern or the decrease in water intensive crops are particularly noteworthy during the period of drought.  Thus there is a variation in the output of the crops in the post-independent era in Mahaboobnagar.  The reasons for such anomalies necessitated to the study of various aspects, particularly the resource endowments, of district in detail.

Mahaboobnagar is one of the 8 districts (according to the latest data from government sources, number of drought prone districts increased to 12) identified as drought – prone, where the “natural regeneration is depleted and sparse, biotic interference is severe, soils are shallow and less fertile and precipitation scanty and erratic, followed by prolonged dry spell.”

The areas formed on the cases for this study located in different parts of Mahaboobnagar district.  They are deliberately selected to study the impact of drought and to know whether it is affected to the district uniformly or in different degrees.  The villages Aragidda in Ghattu mandal, Lattipuram in Gadwal mandal, Dharmavaram in Itikyala mandal, Chandapur in Achampet and Wadiyal in Midjil mandals consisted of different resources to sustain the people.  The study villages are located in semi-arid, drought prone areas. 

The year 2002-03 is another year of drought for the people of Mahaboobnagar, which in some parts of the district is described as the “worst in the post-independent period”.  The perception of the people is true or not could be known only when one analysed the situation at the micro level, i.e., village and particularly on different occupational groups, the spatial and/or temporal dimension, the consumption pattern of the people at village etc.  This years’ drought affected several parts of the district, some of which like Ghattu Mandal suffered from second or third drought for the past seven years.  The district is hard put to it in tiding over the situation.

The impact of drought on agricultural production is extensive which resulted in the decline of crop acreage, fall in employment, fall in purchasing power of those engaged in agricultural activities, fall in water table, scarcity of food grains, scarcity of fodder, distress sale of cattle, low intake of food, sale of property, and migration of people in search of employment.