Floods inundate 46,000 hectares in 4 districts

Rajahmundry: Incessant rainfall in the last few days has submerged agricultural fields, spread over 45,840 hectares, affecting several crops, including paddy, cotton, red gram, black gram, green gram, jute, maize, soya bean and chillies, mainly in the four districts of Guntur, Prakasam, East Godavari and Vizianagaram.

Though the kharif season usually begins around June 15, the crop is harvested towards the end of October to avoid crop damage or loss due to cyclonic storms in November. This also varies from place to place within the district itself based on availability of water for cultivation of mainly paddy.

It’s been four months since paddy was transplanted, with the crop at the stage of tilling. There will be no damage to it even if the paddy fields are inundated for a few days. If the paddy crop has reached maturity and is ready for harvesting, the crop then gets lodged in the water due to the weight of the grains and then is likely to suffer more damage as the crop soaks in the water for several days.

Agriculture authorities said such damage could be prevented if the water receded and dry weather returned. A precaution that farmers should take against a fungus attack and pests at this time was to use a booster dose of urea, fungicide and pesticide.

Guntur district bore the brunt of rainfall as large areas bearing cotton, paddy and red gram were affected: with about 36,497 hectares getting inundated, these crops may suffer damage if the rains continue for a few more days.

Guntur agriculture joint director V.D.V. Prasad said, “Heavy rainfall in the last few days caused the water bodies to overflow and this resulted in the inundation of the paddy fields. Even the cotton crop was washed away at some places due to the overflowing of the Nallamada rivulet.”

East Godavari stands second after Guntur, the area under inundation being nearly 8,825 hectares. East Godavari agriculture joint director K.S. Vara Prasad said, “We are not expecting major damage mainly to the paddy crop as the quantum of rainfall witnessed in the district is relatively less. The crop being raised for the kharif season is at various stages, farmers raised it based on the availability of water. If the water starts receding in the next few days, the crop will survive.”

Agriculture minister Prathipati Pulla Rao and Deputy CM Chinarajappa inspected the inundated crops at Krosuru mandal in Guntur district on Friday.  Mr Pulla Rao said, “Once the water starts receding, our personnel will visit the fields and enumerate the extent of damage or loss. Based on their report, the government will provide relief to the affected farmers.”