Farmers worries about crop loss due to heavy floods in Konaseema

By Our Special Correspondent

Due to heavy floods in Konaseema district, the farmers are facing severe difficulties as commercial crops as well as paddy nurseries have also been damaged. Every year calamities such as cyclones or floods damage the crops, leaving the farmers at the harvest stage unable to recover at least the investment.

Officials said that 484 hectares of agricultural crops and 6402 hectares of horticultural crops were damaged in the district. Commercial crops such as banana, papaya, okra, turmeric, betel leaves, chillies, vegetables and others were submerged in the flood water.

Farmer K. Srinivasa Reddy of Ravulapalem mandal told the news agency that he invested Rs. 1.75 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh per acre and cultivated 5 acres of banana crop in Komarajulanka village. He said that he had planned to sow banana sap in October 2021 expecting to get the yield in August 2022 and huge profits. But now the entire crop was damaged incurring a loss of Rs 10 lakh, he lammented.

Srinivasa Reddy said that last year the government had given compensation of Rs. 10 thousand per acre. He asked that the daily laborers are demanding Rs.800 per day, and whether that amount will cover the wages, pesticides and other charges.

The condition of the farmers who invested more than Rs.2.50 lakhs per acre and cultivated millet crop is more miserable. In the villages of the islands, the farmers suffered a lot due to the severe damage to the minumu crop.

Another farmer alleged that officers, ministers and MLAs come and go but to no avail. He said that the compensation was meager and this would not cover their loss and banks or private individuals would not give them money for further seeds.

Speaking to the media, District Revenue Officer CH. Satthibabu said that in Konaseema district, out of 484 hectares of rice nurseries, there was a loss of Rs.13.90 crores in 6,402 hectares, while the Horticulture Department officials submitted a report, while the Agriculture Department officials submitted a report.

District Collector Himanshu Shukla said that the farmers who cultivated papaya and banana in the low-lying areas have suffered huge losses. Recently, the collector promised to inspect the damaged banana and other crops in Vanapalli village and provide compensation to the farmers.

He said that the government will supply 80 percent subsidized seeds to the affected farmers. He said that the enumeration process is going on.