Predicament of farmers due to unconventional rain

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Published on November 5, 2020 by

The yield is adversely affected as the rain washes away crops and decreases quality.

Nellore: So far, the Andhra Pradesh Government has estimated crop damage of up to 71,821 hectares while in the district, it is 17,000 hectares.

Picture Credit: New Indian Express
The average rainfall this year in the district is 170mm which is twice than the usual. There is huge impact of this unconventional rain on the farmers who are now in loss. While some of the crops get unrooted the others wash away all nutrients in the rain, making them low in quality. For unprecedented times like this, the Government introduced a scheme known as Weather Based Crop Insurance (WBCI) according to which, the farmers get a coverage of 25% to 50% percent. Vijay Shekhar, a farmer, says that, “the situation is bad for us. My yield dropped to half and there’s no announcement from the Government yet regarding the insurance. We won’t get anything unless entire village is affected.”
These low-quality crops do not invite buyers thus making the farmers vulnerable. The Agricultural Department Officer, Somu Sundar, says that” there is an initiative to aid the farmers but the situation can be worse as we still expect rain.” He also added that the ratio of insured farmers to uninsured ones is almost equal. This is likely for the fact that these farmers lack official papers and are less updated.
While the insured ones are hoping for some assistance from Government, the other half is stranded. There is several NGO’s working for the cause of farmers who help providing necessities to farmers in need. Talking to one such NGO it was noted that these farmers do not easily come for assistance, but for those who come, these NGO’s make sure that they are taken care of. Chiranjeevi, Founder of an NGO says that, “farmers are poor here. They need financial assistance as the situation is worse due to rain. I try to help them as much as I can, sometimes, I buy them ration as it is better than just giving money.”
With the region still affected by downpours, the farmers continue to suffer and wait for support.

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