Copious rains over the last few days in several parts of Telangana have revived hopes for Kharif. Till last week, 23 out of the 33 districts in the State were in the ‘deficit’ bracket, prompting the State Government to come out with a comprehensive Action Plan to salvage the situation by promoting pulses and millets in a big way.Citing reports, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said a few days ago that the adverse impact of El Niño would continue into August as well and advised farmers not to undertake paddy cultivation. He directed officials to keep sufficient seed ready to help farmers adopt alternatives.Citing weathermen, he had indicated that El Niño could cast its shadow even on the rabi season. But extensive rains across the State over the last few days have revived farmers’ hopes. “We are better off than we were last week. Reports suggest that farmers in several districts are in a safe zone now,” Jaipal, a farmer from Mahaboobabad district, told businessline.The State Government, however, is wary of the situation and still believes that paddy is not a good idea. It estimates that the overall sowing area may fall by 20-25 per cent this kharif as against the area sown in the last kharif.“That several farmers had to go for second sowing shows how precarious the situation is. We are advising farmers, even those with borewell support, not to go for paddy this season,” a government source said.“Late rains over the last few days do help, particularly for paddy farmers,” Prabhakar Vuppala, a farmer from Nizamabad, said.According to the figures available as of July 29, paddy sowings declined. As against approximately 8.9 lakh hectares as on date last year, paddy was sown in approximately 8.28 lakh hectares, while maize was sown in approximately 1.90 lakh hectares, as against approximately 2.19 lakh hectares, and redgram in 1.79 lakh hectares (1.75 lakh hectares in last kharif). Cotton, however, reported higher sowings with 18.62 lakh hectares as against 17.40 lakh hectares as on date last year.