Guntur: Pest attack affects quality & quantity of chilli yield

Guntur: Pest attack on chilli crop has affected the yield in Guntur district, incurring heavy loss to the farmers. Normally, chilli farmers get 30 quintals per acre but due to pest attack, the yield per acre reduced to 20 quintals of substandard and inferior quality.

According to official sources, the farmers in Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam and Kurnool districts have cultivated chilli in seven lakh acres. Due to pest attack, 90 percent of the yield was damaged.

In Guntur district alone, chilli crop of over 2.5 lakh acres was damaged. Crop damage was more in Palnadu region compared to Guntur and Tenali divisions. Tenant farmers incurred more loss as they have to pay Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 as rent for the land taken on lease to the landowners.

Horticulture officials and scientists visited chilli fields in the

district and studied the damaged crop. At present, the officials were conducting enumeration of crop damage caused by pest attack in the district.

Minister for Agriculture and Horticulture K Kanna Babu and Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharita reviewed crop damage at a meeting with the officials of horticulture department. The officials informed that the enumeration of crop damage is being conducted Rythu Bharosa Kendram-wise. They said that they will get crop damage details on Monday and will submit a report to District Collector Vivek Yadav, for taking further action. Meanwhile, a farmer from Narasaraopet T Sanakara Rao said that he had cultivated chilli in four acres. Pest attack has affected both quality and quantity and incurred a loss of Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000 per acre, he lamented. The farmer requested the government to extend financial help to those farmers, whose crop was damaged due to pest attack.

Another farmer P Kesava Rao said, "When chilli farmers got better price last year, cotton farmers shifted to chilli this year, which increased chilli sowing area." But due to pest infection, all the chilli farmers have incurred heavy loss, especially, tenant farmers were the worst hit, he stated.

An official from horticulture department on the condition of anonymity said that they will submit the report on crop damage due to pest within two days to the district administration, which will be sent to the government for taking further action.