Visakhapatnam: Jawad fear forces farmers to go for early harvesting

Visakhapatnam: Several farmers in north Andhra lost their crops when rains in October wreaked havoc. Fearing a repeat of the scene in the wake of the Jawad cyclone threat, many farmers in the Agency areas have started harvesting the paddy crop much earlier.

With weathermen forecasting heavy rains due to Jawad which is likely to cross the coast on Sunday morning, the district administration alerted the people on the 'dos' and 'don'ts' like avoiding venturing into sea for fishing and taking shelter under trees and electric poles. Apparently, it also suggested farmers not to go for early harvesting.

However, turning a deaf ear to the officials' advice, farmers went ahead with early harvesting in a bid to save their crops.

Even as the cyclone changed its direction and is heading towards Puri along the Odisha coast, farmers in the Visakha Agency continued their exercise.

Having come to know about the hasty decision of the farmers, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) officials swung into action to create awareness among the locals in tribal hamlets. "Already, instructions were given to village secretariat staff to educate the farmers not to harvest in advance," says Ronanki Gopalakrishna, ITDA project officer.

Crops in extensive area have been damaged in the earlier floods. Keeping this in mind, many farmers decided to go for early harvesting. "This way, we can avoid loss to an extent," reasons Narasayya, a farmer at Lagisapalli hamlet. As some of the farmers have already harvested the paddy, the stocks were shifted to warehouses.

ITDA officials say that they will continue to meet farmers and explain to them about staying off from harvesting paddy as the cyclone may not be impacting the crops as feared earlier.