Andhra Pradesh: Looming cyclone makes paddy farmers jittery

Vijayawada: Farmers of Coastal Andhra Pradesh are in panic once again as a heavy bout of rain is expected to lash across the state due to the depression in Bay of Bengal which is likely to cause a massive damage to crops ready for harvesting.

According to Indian Meteorological department, a low-pressure area has formed over Southeast Bay of Bengal which causes light to moderate rainfall accompanied with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds in the state in the next one week beginning with November 14 evening. The depression is also likely to turn into a cyclone in a few days. Hence, the farmers are natrurally expressing concern that this year too their crop would be destroyed by the rains and gusty gales.

In fact, data show that over 30 cyclones that hit the state during October-December in the last 15 years inflicted heavy losses on farmers, mainly those cultivate paddy.

According to Season Crop and Coverage Report, an area of 24.98 lakh hectare (62.45 lakh acre) was cultivated across the state during the current kharif season, of which paddy was sown in 13.05 lakh hectare (32.65 lakh acre).

Besides, coarse grains such as jowar, ragi and minor millets has been cultivated in 1.84 lakh hectare, and pulses such as redgram, greengram, horsegram are being cultivated in 2.39 lakh hectare; oilseeds, namely, groundnut, sesame, soyabean, sunflower and commercial crops tobacco, cotton, jute are cultivated in around 4 lakh hectare.

Of all these crops, paddy is highly prone to damage if the cyclones with heavy rains and gales hit the state.

Meanwhile, with the sudden change in the climate, some farmers are getting their crops harvested by engaging harvesters (machines) instead of labourers. This year a number of paddy harvesters are being deployed from Nellore and other districts in the state as well as from Tamil Nadu.

Due to high demand, harvester operators too are charging Rs 3,000 per hour for harvesting paddy fields which is more than normal fare. Generally, if the paddy field is dry, the machine takes one-and-a-half hour for mowing and thrashing grains. If the field is wet and water-logged it takes another one hour which makes the farmer pay an additional amount.

Currently, farmers are spending Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000 per acre for machine harvesting. A farmer of Konkepudi village of Krishna district Salapati Venu said that they were tense with fears of looming rains. So, they deployed a machine to mow the paddy for getting out of trouble. He said that he paid Rs 5,000 per one acre.

A paddy harvester operator, who came to Krishna district from Nellore, said that they collected Rs 3,000 per hour and added that last year they had collected only Rs 2,500 per acre. But due to hike in the transport and machine operators’ salaries, they had to increase the charges to Rs 3,000 per acre this year.