Crops badly damaged in two districts

Parvathipuram Manyam/ Vizianagaram: Farmers of horticultural crops have been pushed into losses as the gales caused by Asani cyclone have damaged the crops. Banana and papaya orchards in about 450 acres in Komarada and Kurupam mandals of Parvathipuram district were damaged.

On the other hand, harvested maize crops also got soaked in rainwater in Bhogapuram, Denkada and Pusapatirega mandals. Farmers of Komarada, Kurupam and Jiyammavalasa mandals in Manyam district usually grow fruit plantations like guava, papaya, banana in drylands.

With favourable climatic conditions and without natural calamities like cyclones and gales, farmers would earn around Rs 80,000 per acre and more than Rs 1 lakh on papaya. K Simhachalam of Kummarikunta village of Komarada mandal said that three acres of papaya crop was damaged. 'I have to uproot the entire crop and prepare the land again for sowing,' he lamented.

Meanwhile, low-lying areas in the district were flooded with rainwater due to the heavy rainfall on Thursday. Thotapalem, YSR Nagar of Vizianagaram are some of the low-lying areas where sewage has overflowed due to heavy rain.