ANANTAPUR/KADAPA: The Rayalaseema region is yet again in the clutches of drought, more particularly Anantapur district which can be described as address for the drought. There is no village in the district where one can find a farmer with a smile on his face.
One can only find farmers cursing there fate and hoping for better prospects. If it was heavy rains that broke the back of the farmers by devastating the crops in the district due to the Jal cyclone last year, then it is less to almost negligent rainfall that saw the farmers lose their crops yet again.If one visits Anantapur district today, one will not be able to see any fields with green hue but only the barren lands with emaciated livestock. Farmers have migrated to towns and cities in search of livelihood. There, they either sell vegetables as vendors or work as daily wage earners. In the rural areas, the weakened cattle is being shifted to slaughter houses.
In Kharif season, groundnut crop was raised in 7.8 lakh hectares in the district, the highest extent of cropping area of groundnut in a single district. Farmers were buoyed by the rains in May and June and expected them to continue in the following months. But that was not to be the case. There was sharp decline in rainfall in July but the farmers, hoping that there would be rains, sowed the seeds even in August. But there were no rains in August and September, devastating the farmers. Even if there was some amount of rain, the farmers would have at least harvested some groundnut and fodder for the cattle. The crop damage in the district during Kharif was estimated by the officials to be over an extent of 6.36 lakh hectares against the total cropping area of 7.8 lakh hectares. The district administration tried to salvage some crop, but found out that what harvested is far less than what the yield promised. As against the normal average yield of 1,000 kg per hectare, only 100 kg could be harvested. That is only 10 percent of the normal yield. The crop loss was estimated at `2,000 crore. A Narayana Reddy, a farmer from Akuthotapalle village in Anantapur Rural mandal, says that every year, farmers are taking up groundnut cultivation hoping for a better yield but every year they are losing their crops. If the situation continues like that, farmers will not be in a state to continue agricultural activity. He tooThe situation is no different in neighbouring Kadapa district which received 40 percent less than the normal rainfall in Kharif season. Of the 51 mandals, 21 received very less rainfall. And cultivation was taken up only in 1.30 lakh out of the total cropping area of 2 lakh hectares. As against the normal extent of 1.8 lakh hectares of groundnut crop, it was only cultivated in 40,000 hectares. Here too, farmers are seen migrating to towns and cities. The government machinery in the district is working to make contingency arrangements. Plans were made to procure 10 lakh MT of fodder, which is expected to be deficit in January and February. A proposal entailing an expenditure of `4.22 crore has been submitted to state government and likewise another proposal worth `10 crore has been submitted to mitigate drinking water problem.
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