Cyclone Phethai left the farmers of the East Godavari district in the lurch with those cultivating paddy, commercial crops and horticulture complaining of huge loss. The farmers from the eastern and the central deltas, who completed the rabi transplantation, have to do it all over again from the scratch. Similarly, farmers yet to harvest the yield from the kharif season, particularly those from the tail-end areas, have lost their standing crop.
Ex gratia
The farmers of the ayacut under the Pithapuram Branch Canal lost their paddy and cotton crop. Even as the official estimates are yet to be finalised, an ex gratia of ₹12,000 per hectare has been announced by the government. It will be remitted into the farmers’ accounts once the survey is over. “Till yesterday, we were hopeful of getting a reasonable income from the kharif season, as the yield was good. But now the entire paddy field is under water and the grain would turn discoloured,” observed Bathula Raghava Rao, tenant farmer who cultivated paddy in two acres at Gollaprolu. In the Konaseema region, the paddy farmers spent about ₹5,000 per acre on the rabi transplantation, which was washed away. “The transplantation has to be redone in at least 50,000 acres. The tenant farmers are the worst hit as they are unable to access finance from the banks,” said Koppisetti Ramana from Amalapuram. Cotton and banana crops were severely damaged in Pithapuram and surrounding areas. The cyclone hit the region at a time when the cotton farmers were ready to collect the crop. With the gales and rains, most of the crop was damaged and the fields are under water. “It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister spoke nothing about the farmers and the crop loss. The government should know the ground realities and announce ex-gratia accordingly,” said Tatipaka Madhu, CPI district unit secretary. “Of the 13.76 lakh metric tonnes of paddy yield from the kharif, at least 10% got damaged. The cotton and banana farmers too should be given support,” said K.S. Srinivas of the CPI(M).
