ONGOLE: The field level survey teams began loss enumeration survey starting May 20 to assess the impact of drought on crops in the Rabi season and the loss incurred by farmers in 31 mandals of Prakasam district.
The agricultural department took up the survey in two categories—severe drought affected areas and moderate drought affected areas—as specified by the government. Of the 31 mandals, 11 were under moderate category and 20 were under severely affected category. The remaining seven mandals in ‘No drought affected’ category.
It is to be recalled that the State government had declared in March that a total of six districts, including Anantapur, Sri Satya Sai, Kurnool, Nandyal, Prakasam and Nellore, as drought-hit. Though the survey was initially planned to be completed by the end of March, due to the general elections, the process has been delayed.
On May 25, the officials displayed the reports of ‘drought induced crop losses during 2023-24 Rabi season’ at the respective village secretariats, panchayat offices and RBKs for social audit. After receiving complaints, the officials would readdress those grievances on May 28.
“The concerned officials will send those updated reports to the district agricultural officers office by May 30. After a thorough verification, the list will be sent to the State Agricultural Commissioner’s office for further action,” said District Joint Director of Agriculture S Srinivasa Rao.
In fact, the district authorities had prepared the ‘preliminary drought impact/crop losses report’ and sent it to the higher authorities in March, as they collected the field level information through the village level staff and recorded the same in the e-crop app.
According to the data, in Rabi season, the farmers cultivated in around 1.23 lakh hectares of total 1.72lakh hectares. The officials have identified crops in nearly 1.18 lakh hectares as drought affected with an estimated loss of around Rs 61.38 crore to farmers.
“The government will grant compensation to all the affected farmers as per the prescribed scale of relief i.e., Rs 17,000 per hectare for the irrigated crops and Rs 8,500 per hectare to the rain-fed crops,” Srinivasa Rao explained.