Telangana farmers’ preference for veggies, spices over paddy continues in Yasangi 2026

The extent of area sown for horticulture crops increases in Telangana under the impact of El Nino. The image is used for representative purposes only. | Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT

As farmers in Telangana experience the impact of El Nino, they continue to choose vegetables, spices and other horticulture culture over traditional choices including paddy.

The change which was witnessed from Kharif, continued in Yasangi (Rabi) — though it has been only a month for this season. While the extent of sowing area of horticulture crops in Kharif 2025-26 was 2.25 lakh acres, it increased to 3.54 lakh acres in this Kharif, an increase of 1.28 lakh acres. Officials said that as paddy is being harvested now, more area may be used to replace it with horticulture crops in the coming months.

October 1-28

While horticulture crops were sown in 6,552 acres between October 1 to 28 in 2025, it has increased to 15,864 acres in corresponding 28 days of this year. The highest of 3,953 acres more sown area was recorded in Rangareddy, followed by 1,395 acres more in Sangareddy; 1,146 acres in Siddipet; 1,098 acres Mahabubnagar; 728 acres in Warangal and 659 acres in Vikarabad, according to the Horticulture department’s latest data.