Vijayawada, April 23: The hailstorm that lashed Krishna, Guntur and Khammam districts last night caused heavy loss to mango farmers, who are already a depressed lot due to the low yield.
Mango crop stands at 30-40 per cent in many areas this year due to severe heat conditions and lack of rains for the past two months.
A farmer, Jangula Nageswara Rao of Goddigudem village of Gopalapuram mandal in West Godavari district, who brought one and half tonnes of mangoes to Nunna mango market heaved a sigh of relief as he was able to save the yield. He received a phone call from his family members that heavy winds lashed the village and all mangoes fell down in his four-acre farm.
Speaking to Express today, he said he was unable to get even 25 per cent of mango yield this year. But the hailstorm caused huge loss to him and he was not in a position to even bear the cost of picking up the fallen mangoes as they fetch no money in the market.
Another farmer, Chaganti Lakshma Reddy of Nunna village having ten acres of mango garden suffered heavy loss as fifty per cent of mangoes in his four-acres fell due to strong winds. He said that this year there was no crop in the remaining six acres.
His hopes of getting an income of around Rs 70,000 this year were shattered with the last night's heavy winds. Besides he is forced to engage workers to clean the fallen mangoes, though they were not useful for marketing as they would pose a threat to the remaining crop due to decomposing.
Meanwhile, several farmers expressed concern over the indifferent attitude of horticulture officials. They said no one came to villages to enquire about the loss. They said during former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy's regime a compensation of Rs 2000 per acre was paid to each farmer A market expert of Nunna mango market Md Iqbal, who is into export of mangoes to other states said that mango farmers suffered heavy loss this year with low yield and heavy winds. He said though farmers bring the fallen mangoes to the market, it would be a loss to them as they have to spend nearly Rs 3000 for picking up mangoes and transporting them to the market.
However, assistant director of horticulture K Balaji Naik said that 20 per cent mango drops were reported in 25,951 hectares in 26 mandals of Krishna district. He said that it would not come under crop damage.
However, banana in 630 hectares, sweet lime in 50 hectares, drumstick in 15 hectares and other vegetable which suffered fifty per cent damage, come under crop damage and would be considered for proposals of input subsidy.
In Khammam, mangoes in 10,000 hectares in Sattupalli, Dammapet, Vemsuru, Penuballi and Kalluru had fallen due to gales and rain causing a loss of Rs 7.5 crore, according to officials. But the actual loss was estimated to be much more, according to farmers.
Chillis spread in 12,000 acres for drying were blown off due to heavy gales in Bhadrachalam division. Chillies brought to the chilli yard at Khammam were also damaged due to rain resulting in the fall of price from Rs 5,000 to Rs 3,000 a tonne.
In Gutnur district, banana orchards in 18000 acres were totally damaged.
Besides chilies spread in fields for drying up were blown off in Palnadu region, according to horticulture assistant director Madhusudhana Reddy.
In Prakasam district papaya in 85 hectares, banana in 37 hectares and chillies in 27 hectares were damaged due to heavy winds, according to assistant director of horticulture Venkateswarlu.
--Agencies
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