Unseasonal Rain Dropped Many Mangoes

In less than a fortnight, scores of chilli, maize, paddy and mango growers bore the brunt of nature’s fury when yet another spell of unseasonal rain wreaked havoc in various parts of the district on Sunday night, taking a heavy toll on standing crops as well as the harvested produce.

An unexpected spell of moderate to heavy rain accompanied by gusty winds lashed many parts of the district late on Sunday night compounding the woes of farmers, those already reeling under the impact of adverse climatic conditions and the unseasonal rain that battered several mandals in the third week of last month.

The maize and mango growers are among the hardest hit by the sudden showers and high velocity winds that extensively damaged the crops ahead of the crucial harvesting season in Kusumanchi, Chintakani, Tirumalayapalem, and other mandals.

Extensive damage to standing maize crops was reported from Venkatapuram in Mudigonda mandal, Basvapuram, Kistapuram and Lachagudem in Chintakani mandal, Jellacheruvu in Kusumanchi mandal and several other villages from across the district.

Mango growers in Khammam and Sattupalli divisions, known for extensive mango plantations, suffered a major jolt with the latest bout of unseasonal rains dashing their hopes of at least recovering the cost of cultivation.

“Sunday night’s rain caused extensive fruit dropping in our mango plantation leaving us in dire straits,” deplored Venkateshwarlu, a farmer of Basvapuram.

“The raw mangoes those dropped from trees under the impact of strong gales will not fetch us remunerative price and we are bound to suffer losses this season,” he rued.

Mango orchards suffered extensive damage at Lingala in Kallur mandal and standing paddy crop bore the brunt of rain in Kalluru, Thallada and other mandals in the district, said Sattupalli MLA S. Venkata Veeraiah.

Mr. Veeeraiah, who visited the affected villages on Monday, said the government should help the distressed farmers hard-hit by the nature’s fury by expediting the process of enumeration of crop losses and extending succour to them on a war-footing.

The deficiencies plaguing the implementation of the weather-based crop insurance scheme such as lack of adequate mechanism to effectively record weather data should be plugged, he suggested.