VIJAYAWADA: Special Chief Secretary (Agriculture) Poonam Malakondaiah, along with Joint Collector K Madhavi Latha, visited Tummalapalem in Guduru mandal on Saturday to inspect the crops damaged due to Cyclone Nivar. During his visit, the Special Chief Secretary told the farmers not to lose hope. He said the government will provide input subsidy and crop insurance for their produce.
The officials further proceeded to Rythu Bharosa Kendras and paddy purchase centres to enumerate the losses incurred during the cyclone. Speaking on the occasion, Poonam Malakondaiah said the ground-level inspection will help the agriculture department interact with the farmers and know about their plight.
A few farmers told Malakondaiah that the standing crops in their fields were severely damaged due to the cyclone. They sought the government to extend a helping hand to them.
After inspecting the damaged crops, she directed the officials concerned to reconduct crop cutting experiments. She appealed to the tenant farmers to enrol themselves for the e-crop. She also directed the officials concerned to enumerate crop loss on or before December 10.
In all, 626 villages were affected due to the cyclone where paddy crops were damaged in 1,08,044 hectares, black gram in 117 hectares, cotton in 175 hectares and groundnut in 45 hectares.
So far, crop enumeration was conducted in 35,270 hectares and crops were damaged in 29,432 hectares, agriculture department officials informed Malakondaiah. Machilipatnam RDO NSK Khajavali, Agriculture Joint Director T Mohan Rao and other officials accompanied her.
Enumeration of crop loss tardy: Lokesh
Ongole: TDP national general secretary N Lokesh on Saturday inspected the flood-hit farms in Chirala and Parchur Assembly constituencies along with Parchur MLA Yeluri Sambasiva Rao and others. Lokesh sought the government to enhance input subsidy to the growers to at least `25,000 per hectare. Consoling a group of farmers, Lokesh said it was unfortunate that the enumeration of crop loss was going at a snail’s pace. The government had not kept its promise of announcing minimum guaranteed price before the start of the cropping season to help the farmers take a well-informed decision as to what crop they should grow, he charged.