Guntur: A grave food crisis stares Andhra
Pradesh -- known as the country's rice bowl -- as its farmers
suffered a double blow this Kharif season.
It was the worst drought in 50 years that first hit them
hard at the beginning of the season and even before they could
recover from it, the deluge -- the worst in over 100 years --
rubbed salt into their injury.
A preliminary estimate has put the loss, only on account
of the floods, at a staggering Rs 1250 crore to the
agriculture sector.
Paddy, the prime crop in most parts of the state including
the Krishna Delta, has been the worst hit, first because of
the drought and now due to the deluge.
While the state agriculture department estimated that
paddy output will be about 85 lakh tonnes in Kharif, the
production will be 30 lakh tonnes less due to drought and the
deluge.
"Our revised estimate is that paddy production will be
around 55 lakh tonnes only during this Kharif," state
Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Reddy said.
The overall foodgrain production is also expected to fall
by a whopping 30 per cent out of the estimated 113.48 lakh
tonnes, it is feared.
Apart from foodgrains, horticulture crops have also
suffered extensive damages in districts like Guntur, Krishna,
Mahbubnagar and Kurnool. While Mahbubnagar produces vegetables
in large quantities, Kurnool is famous for onions and
tomatoes.
The state, which is already reeling under severe scarcity
of red gram, will have to bear the brunt in the coming months
as well as the crop in more than 60,000 acres in Guntur
district alone has been destroyed in the floods.
The losses that are being currently talked about are only
preliminary estimates as the enumeration of actual loss has
not been done so far.
The state government is now deploying special teams in
each mandal to enumerate the crop losses in a detailed manner
after which a clear picture will emerge.
In Guntur district, famous for crops like paddy, chillies,
cotton, turmeric and tobacco, the floods have left farmers
shattered.
"From June to September, we were left looking towards the
skies for rain and could not take up cultivation because of
the drought. Now, when rains started pouring, the floods have
come as a bolt from the blue and left us devastated," Delta
farmer Ramakotaiah lamented.
His three-acre paddy field near Bhattiprolu has been
inundated and he finds no way to recover from the crisis.
It was a situation that farmers in most parts of the state
faced three years ago when drought and floods had occurred but
to a lesser extent.
The Rabi crop had saved the farmers from distress that
year as a result of which agriculture production touched about
163 lakh tonnes.
"It is a difficult time for the farmers now. The impact of
the Kharif losses will surely be felt on Rabi crop as well as
the small and marginal farmers will find it hard to recover
from this double blow," a senior official of the Agriculture
Department said.
The process of rescheduling Kharif loans, announced after
the drought declaration, has not yet been completed and now
the banks will be required to complete all formalities so that
the farmers could avail of fresh crop loans.
Even the insurance payment on the crop losses suffered on
account of drought has not been done with the state government
awaiting of release of the Government of India share of Rs 358
crore.
"We are requesting the Centre to extend the three per cent
subsidy to the rescheduled loans as well. We have also asked
the insurance companies to pay compensation to the affected
farmers without the mandatory crop cutting exercise as there
is no crop at all," the Agriculture minister said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 20:45