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Prakasam farmers pour out their woes before Central team
Damireddy Narasa Reddy, a retired teacher and farmer in Madalavari Palem in Podili mandal welcomed the inter-ministerial central team on drought touring in Prakasam district, with hopes lit up in his eyes on Tuesday afternoon.
Ongole: Damireddy Narasa Reddy, a retired teacher and farmer in Madalavari Palem in Podili mandal welcomed the inter-ministerial central team on drought touring in Prakasam district, with hopes lit up in his eyes on Tuesday afternoon.
He cultivated red gram and pearl millets in 18 acres, but his entire crop withered due to the drought in the area which he explained to the committee led by G Rambabu, Director of Central Water Commission.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The district administration has submitted an enumerated loss of Rs. 157 crore while the State government estimated it at Rs. 3,000 crore all over AP
- A severe scarcity of water situation exists since December, which is usually witnessed in March every year
Reddy said that he invested about Rs. 8,000 per acre, but didn’t get any as return. In an ideal condition, he said that he would get about 6 to 7 quintals of red gram per acre in produce or a minimum of Rs. 50,000 in money as return, but lost everything to drought. Narasa Reddy is one of the tobacco farmers, who shifted to alternate crops due to the continuous losses for the past few years.
He said to The Hans India, “Though I have two barns registered for tobacco cultivation, I didn’t dare to go for tobacco cultivation this year. So I shifted to red gram, after witnessing the price of about Rs. 10000 per quintal last year.
But this year, the farmers who got less produce also, are not getting price more than Rs. 4000 per quintal. Sensing serious drought, I left another 8 acres as fallow land and skipped tobacco this season.”
Gunturu Kotireddy, a native of Kothapalli village in Konakanamitla mandal explained the committee how difficult it is to sell cattle for money. Due to the situation of drought in the district, he is unable to purchase fodder and provide drinking water to them.
He asked the committee members, “When we, the human beings are unable to get water for drinking, how can we provide water for the cattle? Unable to supply fodder by spending Rs. 50 for each animal everyday and incapable of seeing the emaciated animals, I sold them at Rs. 15000 each.”
Similar are the tales of farmers in the places like Podili, Konakanamitla, Markapur, Cumbum and Bestavaripet mandals where the committee visited and interacted with the farmers. The joint collector, Dr M Hari Jawaharlal said, “The water levels in sources like bore wells or tanks are dropping very fast. We are facing a severe scarcity of water situation since December, which is usually witnessed in March every year.”
