Rabi Crops In Coastal AP Hit

Over the past 2 days, hapless farmers belonging to the coastal regions of Andhra have been seeing their crops destroyed by the untimely rains caused due to upper air cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal.

Standing crops in the districts of East and West Godavari, Khammam, Krishna, Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Warangal, Ananthapur and Guntur were destroyed by the heavy rains that hit various parts of coastal Andhra over the past two days. 5cm, 6cm and 7cm of rain was recorded in various parts of coastal Andhra.

Just as the farmers thought that all was well, having managed to cultivate good crops using all the agricultural inputs they could acquire, their Rabi crops were drenched to nothing. 5cm, 6cm and 7cm of rain was recorded in various parts of coastal Andhra. The farmers lamented over their ravaged crops, and pleaded the government to provide them with financial help.

The turmeric and red chilli crops were the worst-hit, while the mango and paddy cultivations also sustained heavy blows. The loss of crops in Guntoor alone is being estimated at Rs. 3,000 lakhs. In Khammam, 10,000 acres of paddy, 12,000 acres of chilli and 4,000 acres of maize is reported to have been damaged by the rains. The Godavari district witnessed the destruction of around 5.5 lakh acres of its paddy crops over the last two days.

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has convened a meeting today with the officials concerned, and has directed them to work on disbursing relief packages among the affected farmers.