Twin blow: Farmers hit hard by untimely rains after drought

Warangal: The farming community in the district, which was already hit by drought, is now affected by untimely rains that lashed the district for the past three days.

Standing crops and harvested farm produce like paddy, maize, turmeric got damaged due to the rains. Besides this, mango orchards, banana plantations and vegetable cultivators suffered huge loss because of the sudden rains and heavy gales.

Farmers in Kuravi, Narasimhulupet, Narsampet, Mahabubabad, Jangaon, Station Ghanpur, Dornakal, Palakurthy Parkal, Khanapur, Maddur, Atmakur, Govindaraopet, Wardhannapet and Parvatagiri mandals have been affected.

Paddy, maize and turmeric brought to market yards and procurement centres in Mahabubabad, Narasimhulupet, Dornakal, Thorrur, Shayampet and other mandals were damaged and maize soaked in rain water at the markets at many places started germination.

However, the agriculture officials were maintaining that crop loss was reported in Khanapur and Maddur mandals only. According the agriculture joint director B Gangaram, 2,000 hectares of paddy and 200 of maize was damaged in Khanapur mandal while 45 hectares of maize was damaged in Maddur mandal.

Horticulture officials were yet to assess the extent damage across the district due to sudden rainfall. According to sources horticultural crops in about 2,000 hectares were damaged in the district. ‘The yield this time is very less due to drought conditions and now the heavy gales have added to our woes,’ lamented a farmer, A Sridhar of Wardhannapet.

The untimely rains have also proved fatal to the lives of migrating birds arrived at Malyal in Mahabubabad mandal in the district. As the high speeds winds and thunderstorms hit the village and damaged the trees hundreds of Siberian cranes died.

38 mandals of the 51 mandals in the district received rain while eight mandals received 20 mm rain. Meanwhile, the founder president of Telangana Karmika Rythu Rajyam party, Martha Rajaiah has demanded the state government to provide a compensation of Rs 50, 000 per acre for mango grooves and Rs 25,000 for other crops.

He wanted the officials to access the crop loss in a comprehensive manner.