Rain-hit vegetable farmers in distress

ADILABAD: The recent hailstorm and heavy rains have destroyed vegetable crops in the Indravelli, Gudihathnoor, Ichoda, Boath, and Utnoor mandals of the Adilabad district. Farmers are distressed, as many of them had borrowed to cultivate these crops.

Farmer brothers Musle Arjun and Madhav said they invested ₹50,000 for growing tomatoes and ₹1 lakh on sowing bitter gourd on their land in Narsapur village of Ichoda mandal.

They pointed out that rains and hailstorms had badly damaged tomatoes. Tomatoes had dropped to the ground and crops had got uprooted. The bitter gourd too turned yellow and got damaged.

Arjun and Madhav said they had taken loans from private persons for growing the crop but ended up suffering losses.

With a huge shortage of tomatoes in Telangana, Adilabad businessmen are importing them in bulk from Shivapuri near Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. Shivapuri is a big vegetable market, where tomato harvesting season begins around this time.