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Agriculture Joint Director S. Srinivasa Rao visiting a cyclone-ravaged farm at Ponduru village in Prakasam district on Thursday.
Much against odds, farmers in drought-prone Prakasam district raised crops by drawing water from bore wells as a dry spell prevailed during the most part of the Khariff and Rabi seasons.
However, as the skies opened up under the influence of the cyclonic storm Michaung, incessant rains began pounding the region earlier this week, destroying the ready-to-harvest crops sown in large extents of farmland across the district, a group of farmers lamented in a conversation with The Hindu. They were taking a break after working all day to drain the stagnated rainwater from their fields at Nidamanur village on Thursday.
“We were hoping to harvest the matured crop raised amid water shortage in January. We have lost the entire crop to nature’s fury in no time,” they said, showing the paddy crop raised during late kharif. They said they would seek compensation from the State government for the damaged crops.
The district had been experiencing a dry spell for most part of the kharif season. Adding to their woes, Krishna water was not released from Nagarjunasagar reservoir this year, forcing a majority of the farmers coming under the NSP Right Bank Canal to leave much of their landholdings barren. Only a miniscule section of enterprising farmers grew crops by drawing groundwater through bore wells.
‘’Even if we are provided with seeds afresh, there is no capital left to raise crops afresh during winter,” they lamented.
Farmers in the district had lost a variety of standing crops in over 24,000 hectares, according to a report compiled by the Agriculture Department. Paddy in 4,200 hectares suffered severe damage, Agriculture Joint Director S. Srinivasa Rao said. Tobacco crops sown over 10,000 hectares accounted for the lion’s share of damages, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said after visiting some farms in Marlapadu village, near Tangutur.
Other crops that suffered extensive damage include bengal gram (4,469 hectares), black gram (2,281 hectares) and maize (1,792 hectares).
