A Central drought assessment team on Monday travelled through parts of Harapanahalli and Hoovinahadagali taluks of Vijayanagara district, stopping at farms, a lake desilting site and villages to hear from farmers, agricultural workers and residents about the impact of the deficient rainfall.

The team headed by senior Central government officer Ajit Kumar Sahu and comprising Colonel Amarendra Singh and Chetram Meena, inspected maize, onion, sunflower and ragi crops in different villages during the visit. It assessed the condition of the crops and spoke to farmers about rainfall, cultivation costs, expected yields and the losses suffered due to the deficient rainfall.

At Maiduru village, the team checked the drinking water situation and spoke to residents about the availability of water and problems with supply. The officials also inspected a borewell to assess the situation.

At Ittigi village farmer Rudrappa Baligar said that he had spent around Rs 60,000 on cultivating maize on 3.82 acres. If the rains had been adequate, he expected to earn between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh. With the crop damaged due to the rainfall deficit, however, he said he was now unlikely to recover the money he had invested.

The farmers told the team that the Rs 2,500 per acre compensation announced for crop loss was not enough. They sought compensation of Rs 60,000 per acre, saying the damage should be assessed scientifically and compensation fixed according to the actual loss.

The farmers also raised the issue of crop insurance. They said that although they had paid their insurance premiums, they had not received compensation for the crop losses. The team sought details about the insurance claims and compensation payments.

In the same village the officials inspected the onion crop grown on five acres belonging to Sakamma. They looked at onions harvested from the field and sought details about the crop, cultivation expenses, irrigation facilities and expected yield.

At Maiduru the team inspected the onion grown on 2.5 acres and sunflower on two acres of Kottresh.

The team stopped at Shringar Thota to look at maize fields and at Kanavihalli to inspect ragi crops. Farmers explained the rainfall received, sowing conditions, crop status, cultivation costs and losses.

During their interaction, officials advised farmers in rain-fed areas to be more careful while selecting crops and planning cultivation in view of the uncertain rainfall.

They also advised farmers facing financial difficulties to use credit facilities such as Kisan Credit Cards. The farmers were asked to approach banks for information on KCC loans, interest subsidies and other benefits available to them.

Earlier, at Neelagunda lake, the team inspected desilting work under the VB-G Ram G scheme and spoke to workers. Around 416 workers are engaged and paid Rs 382 a day. Most are landless and depend on wage labour, while some said they migrate to coffee estates when work under the rural employment guarantee scheme is unavailable. Workers also complained of delays in wage payments.

Deputy Commissioner Kavitha S Mannikeri briefed the team on the rainfall deficit and crop losses in the district, besides the drinking water and rural employment situation.

Zilla Panchayat CEO Garima Panwar, Additional Deputy Commissioner PN Lokesh, Agriculture Department Joint Director Manjunath, Horticulture Department Joint Director Prabhuraj and other district and taluk-level officials accompanied the team.

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