North Andhra farmers in for another blow
North Andhra farmers in for another blow
VISAKHAPATNAM: Farmers in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, who have lost the Kharif crop due to scanty rainfall ..

VISAKHAPATNAM: Farmers in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, who have lost the Kharif crop due to scanty rainfall and power cuts, are in for another major blow as there will be no irrigation water supply during the Rabi season which commences in February.
The government has declared 18 mandals spread across Srikakualm and Visakhapatnam districts as droughthit- 10 in Srikakulam and eight in Visakhapatnam- though farmers in the two districts have been demanding that 40 mandals - 18 in Srikakualam and 22 in Visakhapatnam- be declared as droughtaffected.In North Andhra, Srikakulam district leads in paddy cultivation with around 1.96 lakh hectares under the crop but due to scanty rainfall and power cuts paddy crop in around 70,000 hectares was damaged in 10 mandals. Officials of agriculture department estimate that the yield during Kharif will come down by around 4050 per cent. With scant rains in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh and in Odisha, the water level at the Gotta barrage on river Vamsadhara has come down drastically, resulting in paddy crop drying up in vast tracts of fields.

Joint director of agriculture EV Ramana Murthy says it will be difficult to provide irrigation water supply to around 80 hectares in the district during the coming Rabi season. Irrigation officials, nevertheless, assure that they are making efforts to save the standing crop of paddy with whatever little water is available in the Vamsadhara and Nagavalli reservoirs.

Associate director of research at the Regional Agricultural Research Station at Anakapalle R Ankaiah said the scanty rainfall brought down not only the yield but also the sucrose level in the sugarcane. Irrgation SE, Visakhapatnam, R Ramakrishna too said there would be no irrigation water supply in Rabi season.

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