Despite putting all efforts and taking precautions, paddy farmers are at the receiving end with brown plant hopper (BPH) hitting the crop. This is second the second time farmers are losing their crops to conditions beyond their control. The cotton farmers had lost their crop to heavy rains last month resulting in low yield and this time it was the turn of paddy farmers.
Paddy was sown in 39,455 acres in the district and it was estimated that BPH damaged crop in 7,100 acres as a result the yield has reduced.
While at some places the crop loss was about half of the field at others it was quarter of the field. The impact was more at Pulkal and Andol mandals. Some farmers reported 50% reduction in the yield.
“We expected a yield of 40 bags per acre, but it fell to half. We do not know how to meet the expenditure we had incurred. I had taken three acres of land on lease paying ₹10,000 per acre in addition to the investment on seed, fertilizers and pesticides.
It may take two to three years to come out of the debt trap if situation favours,” said Srinivas Reddy, a farmer from Pulkal.
While the average yield was expected to be around 22 quintals in the fields, the yield in the BPH affected farms had reduced to 13 quintals. As the loss was put at 7,178 acres based on the information collected by the Agriculture Department, the total paddy lost by farmers was estimated at 64,602 quintals which translates into ₹10.27 crore in financial terms.
“Only natural calamities are covered under the crop insurance but not the loss due to pests. Hence farmers have to bear the loss and there was no other go,” said an agriculture officer.
