Prelim reports put crop damage in 4.48L acres in State

HYDERABAD

The Telangana Government has assessed the crop loss in about 4.48 lakh acres belonging to 2.53 lakh farmers in a dozen districts, as per the preliminary reports it has collected from the officials in the field.

According to Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageswara Rao, the Agriculture Department has put the crop loss at the highest in Warangal district, which is over 1.3 lakh acres, including paddy in nearly 71,000 acres, cotton in 55,000 acres and maize in 3,200 acres.

The report has assessed the damage in 179 mandals of Warangal, Khammam, Suryapet, Nalgonda, Hanamkonda, Nagarkurnool, Mahabubabad, Jangaon, Karimnagar, Siddipet, Bhadradri-Kothagudem and Mahabubnagar districts.

Crop-wise, the maximum damage/loss is assessed on paddy in over 2.82 lakh acres followed by cotton in nearly 1.52 lakh acres, maize in nearly 5,000 acres, chilli in over 3,600 acres, pulses in about 1,200 acres, groundnut in nearly 2,700 acres and horticulture crops in about 1,300 acres.

The district-wise extent of loss/damage and number of farmers affected is Warangal – over 1.3 lakh acres of 80,500 farmers, Khammam – 62,400/42,200, Suryapet – 56,330/17,660, Nalgonda – 52,070/25,720, Hanmakonda – 34,700/24,900, Nagarkurnool – 33,560/14,400, Mahabubabad – 26,000/15,600, Jangaon – 25,000/8,200, Karimnagar – 23,550/21,460, Siddipet – 1,860/930, Bhadradri-Kothagudem – 1,450/730 and Mahabubnagar – 670 acres/715 farmers, respectively.

Meanwhile, he assured the farming community who suffered their crop loss in the Montha cyclone induced rains that the State Government would help everyone of them. He stated that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy would visit the rain-affected areas and the compensation per acre would be decided after consulting the Chief Minister.