Andhra Pradesh: Heavy rains wreak havoc; paddy, vegetable crops destroyed

Amaravati: Incessant rains have caused damage to paddy, maize, cotton, pulses, millets, and a few other crops at many places in Coastal Andhra Pradesh and the Rayalaseema region.

Heavy rains under the influence of a cyclonic circulation over south Coastal Andhra Pradesh and neighborhood threw normal life out of gear in Coastal Andhra Pradesh (CAP) and a few parts of Rayalaseema for the past four days. IMD-Amaravati has forecasted heavy rains on Saturday and Sunday. Squally weather with a wind speed of 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph is likely over the southwest Bay of Bengal on Saturday and Sunday.

Heavy rains caused damage to the standing crops on over 5,000 acres in CAP. The actual loss, however, is likely to be even higher by the time administration takes up the field-level enumeration. Farmers in north coastal Andhra Pradesh (NCAP), Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Anakapalle, Parvathipuram Manyam, Visakhapatnam, Alluri Sitarama Raju districts were expecting a high yield this year. However, heavy rainfall has dashed their hopes as water has stagnated in the fields.

IMD-Amaravati said that heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred at one or two places over the YSR Kadapa district of Rayalaseema. Heavy rainfall occurred at one or two places over Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, and Srikakulam districts of NCAP, Guntur, and Krishna districts of SCAP. Southwest monsoon has been active over CAP and Yanam and Rayalaseema. The rainfall occurred at most places over CAP, Yanam, and Rayalaseema on Friday.

Apart from the paddy, cotton, and maize, the heavy rains caused damage to vegetable crops including beans, lady finger (bhindi), ridge gourd, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, brinjal, ivy guard, and tomatoes. "Heavy rains may lead to a gap between the demand and supply of vegetables. Parts of the state will face a shortage of the vegetable in the coming days," said Santhosh M, a vegetable trader in Vizag city.

Duvvur in YSR Kadapa district recorded the highest rainfall of 14 cm, followed by 9 cm each of Raju Palem in YSR Kadapa district and Nellimarla in Vizianagaram district, 8 cm in Atchampet of Guntur district, 7 cm each in Pulivendal, Vempalle, Tiruvuru, Bhimadole, Yelamanchili, Palasa and Mentada, 6 cm in Ichchaputam, 5 cm each in Alur, Rudravaram, Atmakur, Chimakurthi, Sompeta, Podili, Vijayawada, S Kota, Nuzvid and Vizianagaram.

Fine quality tomatoes were selling at Rs 60 per kg, similarly, bhindi was selling at Rs 60 per kg/ Brinjal was selling at Rs50 to Rs 60 per kg. "What is the most worrying is that some traders have increased prices of the vegetables by 30 percent citing that heavy rains affected the supply of vegetables," said Siva Kumar, a resident of Vizag city.