VIJAYAWADA: Timely intervention by the district administration helped the groundnut farmers of Rayavaram and Mallavolu villages of Guduru mandal in the district, who had been up in the arms for want of water for cultivation, save their standing crop. Following the directives of district collector B Lakshmikantham, the Water Resources and Agriculture departments installed two borewells in the two villages, and was planning to install more to provide water to every acre of land.
According to information, there are about 500 acres of land in Mallavolu, Rayavaram, Akuparru and other villages in Guduru mandal. The failure of North East monsoon and unavailability of water in the canals, led to the distress of the farmers. “After 50-60 days of sowing, the crop started to get affected as there was no water. Since it is the time when the setting of nuts happen, the farmers were worried,” said officials from the Agriculture department.
Officials from Water Resources and Agriculture department inspected the area in the last fortnight and came to the decision that arranging borewells is the best alternative solution. “Even though the farmers asked for water through the canals, we couldn’t release water due to the poor monsoon. So, we decided to go for borewells, for which district collector B Lakshmikantham immediately released `16 lakh. Luckily, we found water at 20 ft underground,” an agriculture officer explained. The officials said that they identified the need to install 280 borewells in all.
The official claimed that the initiative helped in saving `4 crore.
“The farmers spent `1 crore to cultivate the crop in 500 acres. The market value of the yield would be close to `3 crore. Hence, with `16 lakh, we saved `4 crore,” the official observed.Speaking to TNIE, collector Lakshmikantham said that the district administration would take all necessary steps to save the standing crops. “We will install more borewells and ensure that water is available for the last acre. We are closely monitoring the status of the crops. We are happy that we were able to help the farmers,” he said.