Drought in many AP mandals

Hyderabad: Several mandals in Andhra Pradesh are staring at drought. Deficit rainfall in many mandals, in 12 of the 13 districts in the state between June and October, has badly affected agricultural activity.

Deficit rainfall between June and October 15, which is the prime period for sowing operations and raising crops, is taken as the basis for declaring mandals as drought-hit. “AP should have normally received 609 mm of rainfall during this period, but it received only 435.3 mm,” said a senior revenue official.

Kadapa district collector K.V. Ramana has recommended that the state government declare 49 of the 51 mandals in the district as drought-affected, in view of poor rains. He said this after reviewing the drought conditions in the district with agriculture and animal husbandry officials. Only Obulavaripalle and Railway Kodur mandals received normal rainfall between June and September.

Collectors of other districts too have been asked to prepare a list of mandals hit by deficit rainfall. Officials in the revenue department said the overall deficit rainfall recorded in Andhra Pradesh for the period between June 1, 2014 and September 30, 2014 is 29 per cent.

“While the state should have normally received 609 mm of rainfall during this period, it received only 435.3. Now, even if all the districts of AP receive good rains due to HudHud cyclone, a large number of mandals are likely to be declared as drought hit due to less rainfall between June and September,” said a senior official in the revenue department.

Except Srikakulam district that has 8 per cent surplus rainfall during June 1 and September 30, all the remaining 12 districts have recorded deficit rainfall.