The News Minute | june 23, 2014 | 6.59 pm ISTFarmers in Telangana are distressed, as the monsoon has not arrived, three weeks after the first showers hit Kerala.Farmers in Nalgonda and Karimnagar districts should have started sowing seeds by now for the kharif season, which began in the first week of June. They have not been able to do so, because of the delay in monsoons.According to The New Indian Express, farmers in the Husnabad, Illanthakunta, Sircilla, Bheemdeverapalli, Elkathurthy and other mandals face a more precarious situation than farmers elsewhere as they are entirely dependent on the monsoons.The report quotes officials of the Department of Agriculture as saying that the area under cultivation is likely to be lesser than that in the previous year owing to delay in rainfall. The district grows paddy, maize, and cotton.Another report from Nalgonda district published by the same newspaper, The New Indian Express, a similar situation will prevail in Nalgonda district. According to the ariculture department, the rains are expected to begin by July 15. If they are delayed beyond that date, the area under cultivation is likely to significantly reduced.Farmers in Adilabad district, reports The New Indian Express, have begun sowing, but if the rains do not arrive on time, they will lose the seeds. The report quotes several farmers as saying that they had borrowed heavily from money-lenders to purchase seeds. Amid all these dismal stories, comes a report published in The Hindu which details the use of technology among farmers and how it has helped them. Farmers in Medak district are making use of the short messaging service to receive updates from the department of agriculture on the results of the tests of their soil samples. The message tells them how much fertilizer they should be using, and the combination of fertilizers as well.