Farmers in deep waters as rains lash Guntur

Guntur: Farmers are worrying that the rains during the last two days will damage the paddy, chilli, cotton and horticulture crops further in the district.

Heavy rains inundated the crops in over 65,000 hectares in the district, according to preliminary reports. Due to recent rains the farmers are in distress that paddy crop would be affected in over 60,000 hectares in Kolluru, Kollipara, Bhattiprolu, Bapatla, Tenali, Vemuru, Repalle mandals of Tenali revenue division in Guntur district.

The farmers are worried that due to stagnation of rain water, the fallen paddy fields will be damaged. Already the paddy fields in Bapatla, Kakamanu mandals are discoloured due to stagnation of rain water.

Similarly, the crops of chilli and paddy were already inundated in over 3,000 hectares in the district. The district officials of the Agriculture department directed the mandal level officials to send enumeration of damage caused by the rains.

A farmer, P Kesava Reddy, said, "I have cultivated paddy in three acres in Kolluru. Rains have already damaged the paddy fields. The rain during the last two days is likely to damage the paddy fields further resulting in more loss. The traders will offer lower price for discoloured paddy."

Another farmer, T Sambasiva Rao of Amaravati, said, "while the recent rains already damaged chilli gardens the rain during the last two days damaged the chilli gardens further. As a result, we will incur more losses."

Joint director of agriculture M Vijaya Bharati said, "Rains are likely to damage paddy fields in Tenali revenue division, chilli gardens and vegetable gardens in the district. The officials were directed to send report on impact of rains on various crops."