Pulivendula constituency in Kadapa is in the grip of a severe drought, akin to that witnessed in 1967, and bengal gram, groundnut and coriander crops cultivated in Rabi season withered away in several thousands of acres in Simhadripuram, Pulivendula and Thondur mandals, Kadapa MP and YSR Congress leader Y.S. Avinash Reddy said on Monday.

Borewells became defunct and not yielding water even at a depth of 1,500 feet, he said. Mr. Avinash Reddy and YSRC State Farmers Wing general secretary Aravindanatha Reddy inspected the dried-up bengal gram crop in Y. Kothapalli, Simhadripuram and Kasunur villages in Simhadripuram mandal this morning. Farmers told the leaders that they raised bengal gram crop in over 20,000 acres in Simhadripuram mandal and were in distress due to lack of rainfall and not getting even a handful of crop yield in return. The dried up crop was even unfit for use as fodder for cattle, they said. The farmers lamented that they invested more than Rs. 10,000 per acre and incurred debts to the tune of lakhs of rupees.

As almost all borewells dried owing to severe drought, horticulturists were felling withered sweet lime trees. On finding that the crop had dried up at the plant stage with “zero yield”, Mr. Avinash Reddy spoke to Joint Director of Agriculture Gnanasekhar over telephone and sought disbursal of compensation of Rs. 20,000 an acre to the affected farmers.

Source - http://www.thehindu.com