"Though these crops are dry weather crops and require very little water support, they need to be watered at least once every 10 days on an average during the 80-day period and this year we believe that the water table levels have badly shrunk," said K Ram Babu, a farmer from Eti Gavirampeta, Narsipatnam division. Sources in the government agriculture department disclosed that almost 1,000 water tanks used for small scale irrigation have dried up and so have the hill streams feeding them.
Badly hit by demonetisation, the farmers were hoping to make something out of their second crop this year. E Raman Prasad, a farmer from Uratla observed, "Lack of water is a problem in the upland areas of Narsipatnam and Anakapalli divisions. Much of the agriculture in these zones is hence dry crop agriculture. Now, with the northeast monsoon playing truant, the farmers are in for trouble."
Officials said a vast majority of the farmers, however, would not be troubled too much. K Srinivasulu of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra said, "Much of the land in the upland areas of Narsipatnam and Anakapalli plains is either under horticulture such as mango and cashew or timber (Casuarina, Acacia). Hence the loss of crop would be negligible." He further added, over all not more than 10 mandals should be affected.
The farmers, however, maintain that they would face severe losses due to lack of rains and further demanded that the district be declared drought hit. "The authorities cannot claim that farmers will not be affected just because the mango and cashew are in bloom. They must understand that the second crop is equally important, especially for food security. They should at least identify mandals which will be very badly affected and declare them drought hit, if not the entire district, " Raman observed.
Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
