VIJAYAWADA: Returning lands to the farmers in Amaravati after the YSRC government downsized the AP capital is a puzzling and Herculean task. The YSRC government wants three capitals and this does not require so much land in one place.
The unique fertile lands locally known as Jareebu lands could cultivate 120 varieties of vegetables, horticulture and agriculture. In the absence of cultivation in the past five years, these lands are now barren. Farmers claim it will be difficult to revive these lands and make them fertile again.
A 200-ft wide access road was constructed on the banks of the Krishna river to reach the capital and other arterial roads were also constructed across what was formerly farmland, turning lush green areas into concrete surfaces.
Farmers say concrete roads, deep trenches and underground cable ducts have been constructed on their farmlands and re-starting cultivation here will be an arduous task.
Farmer, G. Naresh, said, “Every type of vegetable, horticulture and agriculture crop used to be cultivated in the fertile lands due to the availability of water at a depth of 10 to 20 feet. Amaravati villages on the banks of the Krishna river were once suppliers of vegetables, fruits, flowers and agriculture produce but now the lands are barren and unusable for crop cultivation.”
Farmer S. Subani said, “The concrete road was constructed in my jareebu (highly fertile) farmland at Venkatapalem. The government is proposing to give back the land but how can we cultivate the barren land? It is impossible to remove roads and to fill fertile soil up to 10-20 feet to restart cultivation.”
Farmer, B. Raju, Murali Krishna and others said, “The boundaries to our farmlands were erased for development of land, roads and other amenities. Returning this to farmland will be a puzzling task for the government.”
They say that as the Legislative Assembly will continue to operate from Amaravati, the government should think about developing various projects here or including these areas in adjacent Vijayawada by forming a megacity.
Agriculture scientist T.G. Krishna, however, says that re-starting cultivation is possible if the upper layer of the soil is not damaged. But if roads and concrete structures have been constructed on the farmlands then it will be very difficult to re-start cultivation.
Agriculture department officials said that idle farmlands, without any activity can be used for cultivation by using the manuring method for the first season. They said that a soil test is a must to know the condition of the soil and farmers will have to use the latest technology to restart cultivation activity in the undisturbed farmlands.
