Lesson 4.

Dokur - A Village on the Plateau

Important Points:

Dokur village is in Devarakadra Mandal, it is in Mahabubnagar, and 25km away.

The Old name of Dokur is Dakur, it came from Daku which means Dacoit.

Dacoit people lived in Dakur and easy for them to hide in the heavy bushes.

In Summer from Feburary to June the temperature in this Dokur region goes upto 40 0
Celsius.

In Winter from November to Janurary the temperature is between 20 0 to 300 Celsius.

Dokur village gets rainfall from End of June to October and it is scanty and irregular.

During low rainfall the drought situation occurs and crops dry away.

With little rainfall tanks fill or recharge ground water and there is a problem for
drinking water for humans and animals.

Half of the land that is available in Dokur is Red Soil or Erra Nelalu are not fertile are
not suitable for growing crops.

10

Erra Nelalu is does not retain much water to help the roots spread firm and wide.
These fields are left uncultivated for one season after every crop to recoup their nutrients
from nature.

11

Black soil covers a small part of the agriculatue land in the village, with about 60 cm
depth.

12

Black soil retains water for longer period and it is more fertile and crops can survive
for a longer period.

13

The other soils in this village is Choudu and Garusu and it occupies 30% of land in the
village and it is uncultivated land with pebbles.

14

Pedda Cheruvu is the main tank in Dokur village and it gets water after Devarakadra
tanks is filled, it is away 5km from this village.

15

Chakali Koyikunta, Vani Vampu, Badi and Vampu are small tanks it gets water
from Pedda Cheruvu.

16

Small tanks are very close to the place of Pedda Cheruvu and there is a form of Chain
of tanks to store water at the time of monsoon season with little water. It recharges the
ground water in this area.

17

In olden days people from each farming family joins in removing silt and clearing the
weeds from the tank.

18

The people in the village catch the fish together in the tank and it is placed as a heap in
the center of the village and it is shared by everyone.

19

The tank water had irrigated 400 acres of land.

20

Ground water is very low in this region about 100-150 feet earlier and water is available
after 200 feet in some places and 500 feet in other areas. Digging bore wells in this
region is very expensive and risky.

21

20 families in the village have small piece of land and depend upon rearing sheeps.

Lesson 4.

Dokur - A Village on the Plateau.

Question and Answers:

Which crops are grown in Dokur village by the farmers.

They grow cotton, ground nut, castor, paddy, sajjalu, alasandalu and kandulu.
Name the crops that are grown earlier in the Dokur Village by the farmers.
Earlier they used to grow millets as food crop.
Name the crop which is grown in red soil and white fields?
Ground nut and Castor are grown in red soil. And sajjalu are grown in white fields
What is the main reason for not cultivating ground nuts and which crop is replaced in
the village?
Due to wild pigs, ground nuts are not cultivated and it is replaced by castor crop.
Name the intermittent crops that are grown in the dokur village.
Red grams and alasandalu are grown as intermittent with other crops in the same land to
increase the soil fertility.
By which tanks the paddy is grown in dokur village.
Pedda Cheruvu and Sampenga Vagu the paddy is grown in dokur village.
During which much paddy and ground nuts are gown and how they get water?
From October to January (rabi) paddy and ground nuts are grown by using bore wells water.
How many quintals of paddy they get from an acre of land?
They get 20 to 30 quintals of paddy from an acre of land.
How fruit orchands trees are grown in the village?
Some farmers own mango and orange orchads. It requires less water and they grow groundnut
as intermittent crop during rabi season. And they use sprinklers method for irrigation.
Is the land use in Dokur village is Sustainable?
Soil fertility should be maintained and groundwater remains recharged. There should be a
balance between forests, pastures and agricultural land.
How is the livelihoods of dokur village people.
Upto 6 months they work as agricultural labourers and they migrate to cities and towns for
jobs and they return in June for stable income and they aslo involved in non-farming works.
How many families live in dokur village?
There are 570 families in the village and about 3400 people. 350 families are of various
castes and they have more land. 220 families work as labourers in this village or nearby
villages, they are having less than half acre of land.
How many people are having 30 acres of land out of 350 families in the village?
3 or 4 famers are having 30 acres of land in this village.
What we can see in the dokur village.
We find few shops like kirana shops, chicken centre, vegetable shops pan shop. And buses
from Mahabubnagar to Dokur village, few busses from Devarakadra to Wanaparthy via Dokur
and liked to NH-44 road. The villagers travel by shared autorishwas. To the North of this
village there is a railway station with 3 local trains stop are there.