KURNOOL: A severe wave of rural distress triggered by monsoon failure and El Niño-induced drought conditions has sparked mass distress migration across Kurnool district, leaving entire villages deserted as thousands of farming families depart in search of daily-wage livelihoods.
Nearly 10,000 agricultural families have already packed their belongings, and left their native habitations on hired auto-rickshaws, State transport buses, and trains. Local sources estimate that at least another 50,000 families are preparing to abandon their villages soon after the upcoming Dasara festival.
The crisis is particularly acute across the drought-hit western divisions of Adoni, Yemmiganur and Pathikonda, where consecutive crop failures have destroyed agricultural employment, and left small farmers trapped under mounting debts.
Labourers and small landholders across 12 severely affected mandals—including Alur, Pathikonda, Aspari, Nandavaram, Kosigi, Chippagiri, Kowthalam, Yemmiganur, C Belagal, Kodumuru, Adoni and Mantralayam—are migrating en masse to major urban hubs like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Guntur, Chennai, Bellary, Mumbai and Delhi to seek employment at construction sites, industrial units, and distant agricultural fields.
Over 80% of Kurnool’s farmlands are totally dependent on seasonal rainfall
The present agrarian crisis stems directly from acute rainfall deficit compounded by El Niño phenomenon, as over 80 per cent of Kurnool’s agricultural land relies entirely on seasonal rainfall.
Farmers who sowed rain-fed crops like cotton, red gram and castor following early showers in June suffered widespread losses when rains completely failed through July and August.
Investing between Rs 25,000 and Rs 35,000 per acre in land preparation, seeds, and fertilisers, farmers now face estimated losses averaging `50,000 per acre. Desperate attempts to save withering crops by drilling borewells to depths of 800 to 1,000 feet yielded inadequate groundwater, further exacerbating the debt trap.
Ironically, the State government included only 15 out of the district’s 27 mandals in the early Kharif drought notification. Kurnool District Collector A Siri noted that rainfall deficit reached 56 per cent in July, and 57 per cent in August, explaining that variations under official criteria for vegetation, groundwater, and soil moisture created differing assessment results.
However, farmers and agricultural unions contend that severe drought prevails across all 27 mandals, warning that excluded regions will be denied crucial input subsidies, crop insurance claims, loan rescheduling, interest relief and subsidised fodder.
Villagers also expressed dissatisfaction over the tardy implementation of VB G RAM G (formerly MGNREGA), alleging that average daily wages of Rs 260.38 fall far short of rising living costs. Official figures indicate that out of 4.64 lakh wage seekers holding job cards, only 3.24 lakh are active.
DWMA PD I Narasimha Reddy maintained that the administration is prepared to provide rural work to all applicants.