El Niño drought then floods hit North Andhra farmers

The farmers in Srikakulam and other districts in North Coastal Andhra Pradesh, such as Parvatipuram Manyam and Vizianagaram, are in dire straits. The farmers, who were already in distress due to drought since June this year during the Kharif season, caused by the El Niño conditions, were hit by floods triggered by the deep depression that recently crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast.

The rains have inundated thousands of acres of farmland in several parts of the two North Andhra districts, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.

A majority of farmers reportedly stayed away from agricultural activity in June, the first month of the Kharif season, due to the impact of El Niño, which caused a nearly 45% deficit in rainfall through the third week of September. The normal cropping area is around 1.43 lakh hectares in Vizianagaram district, whereas it is 3,47,519 hectares in Srikakulam district. The crop area was confined to nearly 45,000 hectares in Vizianagaram district and was reduced to around 2.2 lakh hectares in Srikakulam district.

The farmers who invested in fertilizers and seeds lost their money due to the unprecedented drought in 27 mandals of Vizianagaram district and 30 mandals of Srikakulam district. The farmers had invested nearly ₹9,500 per acre in paddy and up to ₹18,000 per acre in maize but lost their investment due to the absence of irrigation facilities and rains during the first three months.

The farmers who depended on borewells for agricultural activity have now borne the brunt of the inundation of standing crops due to unexpected floods. Because of the flash floods, they lost standing crops such as paddy, maize, sugarcane, banana, papaya, and others. Many farmers incurred financial losses ranging from ₹35,000 to ₹2 lakh due to crop damage.

Kurmarao, a farmer from Gopalapuram in Palakonda mandal, broke down after losing his standing crops. “I thought I would get a good yield this year, as our area is very close to the canals of the Nagavali river, although a drought situation prevailed in other areas. But our fate changed with the flash floods,” he said while speaking to The Hindu.

Palla Appalanaidu of Kagitapalli village in the Rajam constituency of Vizianagaram district said that the little maize crop that had grown was damaged by the rains. “The drought situation has impacted maize yield this year. Normally, we get 25 quintals per acre, but it has come down to 10 quintals this year. Floods troubled us further as the yield became inundated. Now, we are trying to dry it to recover at least some amount,” he added.

Mamidi Appanna and Challa Savara Raju of Allina village in Burja mandal, Srikakulam district, lost around ₹30,000 each due to inundation of their standing crops. The farmers, including Challa Savara Raju and Mamidi Appanna, have requested the government to announce immediate financial assistance for crop damage in their area. They submitted a memorandum to MARKFED Director Anepu Ramakrishna and asked him to bring their plight to the attention of the government.

Release of nearly 75,000 cusecs of water from the Narayanpur Anicut in two days led to the inundation of hundreds of acres in Burja mandal. The senior officials assured us that they would carry out an enumeration of the crop damage and relief measures in a couple of days, said Mr. Ramakrishna.