Farmers of Rayavaram, Mallavolu and Muthrasupalem villages in Gudur mandal of Krishna district did not expect the weather to fail them so badly. The sandy soils of the village are most suited for irrigated dry (ID) crops such as groundnut. Even a couple of showers are sufficient to raise groundnut crop in the rabi season here.
This year, however, farmers who sowed groundnut in 400 acres did not receive the blessing of the rain god. Though they are tail-end villages, the Mallavolu distributary, a branch of Bandar Canal, provided enough water for the necessary wettings. This year, however, the luck of the farmers was low like the water level in the canal. At the rate of ₹25,000 per acre, the farmers of the three villages had already invested ₹1 crore, but there was no way they could save the crop.
Though the water table is as high as 20 feet now, the farmers did not have any way to harvest groundwater as they never felt the need for it. The farmers waited patiently for the rains, but they never came. After 70 days and the when crop showed signs of wilting, they approached the State government for help.
Instant solution
Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao responded immediately and asked District Collector B. Lakshmikantham and line department heads to find a solution. The instant solution for the problem was drilling bores (filter points). The Agriculture, Water Resources and Revenue departments working in tandem sunk 400 bores in a matter of a few days. At ₹4,000 per filter point, the overall cost worked out to just ₹16 lakh. Standing groundnut crop worth ₹2.60 crore could he saved with the groundwater from these bores. Agriculture officer Sivaprasad, analysing the cost-benefit ratio, said ₹16 lakh was spent on the bores, that is ₹4,000 per bore. The going rate for a quintal of groundnut was ₹5,000 and the farmers had saved crop worth ₹2.60 crore, Mr Sivaprasad explained. For the small investment of ₹16 lakh the farmers recovered the Rs 1 crore they invested and got revenue of ₹1.60 crore, he said.
