VIJAYAWADA: The intense heat conditions prevailing across the State has led to a dip in production and availability of organic vegetables in Krishna district. While 30 quintals of organic vegetables had reached the markets every day before summer, only around 2-3 quintals of organic vegetables are reaching the markets now.
Officials attribute this dip to the decrease in Zero Based Natural Farming (ZBNF) due to intense heat conditions. Speaking to TNIE, Horticulture department assistant director Dayakar Babu said,“Usually farmers don’t opt for organic cultivation in summers as the weather conditions don’t support it. Most of the ZBNF farmers depend on rain or natural water sources for irrigation to reduce input costs. However, there is lack of water in summer and also the crops are prone to insect attacks for which they cannot use pesticides.”
Organic vegetables are in over 57,000 acres across the district and officials aimed at increasing the organic cover to over one lakh acres by the end of 2019. However, intense heat has led to either complete halt of organic cultivation or give poor returns in both quality and quantity of crops. The dip in organic vegetable production has left a footprint on the 22 Rythu Bazaars in the district. Even the stalls set up in November 2018 to sell organic vegetables are selling inorganic produce due to unavailability of organic produce.