Vijayawada: The paddy yield in Krishna district is likely to drop this year to 10 lakh metric tonnes against the average 14 lakh metric tonnes due to recent cyclones.
The situation is so dire that a majority of the farmers are wary of harvesting their crop, as they fear that they would not even recover the cost of harvesting due to fall in quality and yield.
K. Venkateswara Rao, a farmer form Gudivada, said that one would have to spend about '8,000 per acre to harvest the crop. He said that the yield has come down by 25 per cent.
Expressing concern over the plight of farmers, Rytanga Samkya president Y. Nagendranath said that the farmers suffered heavily due to recent cyclones as both the quality and quantity of the paddy crop was affected.
He said the farmers in Diviseema and in some upland areas have also suffered heavily, due to their crop being damaged. Nagendranath said that the farmers in East Godavari have given up plan to harvest the crop as they are unable to get recover the cost of harvesting due to the damaged crop.
In-charge joint director of agriculture Ch. Balu Naik said the superfine variety of paddy BPT 5204 is being cultivated in 1.5 lakh acres in Krishna district. He said as the crop was weather-based, it suffered heavily due to recent cyclones. “There is a chance that the crop would fall by 4 to 5 bags per acre,” he said.
Naik said that farmers in East Krishna and some upland areas also suffered due to the damage of paddy. YSR Congress farmers’ wing state convener M.V.S. Nagireddy said an alarming situation was prevailing in the district as a majority of the tenant farmers suffered losses due to the recent cyclones.
He said that the tenant farmers were apprehensive about their future as the crop has been discoloured and also germinated. “Though the insurance premium was increased to 11 per cent, farmers are not getting compensation at the time when their crop has been damaged. The government too has failed to respond so far,” he said.
