Horticulture crops took a beating from gales and thunderstorms that hit many parts of the district on Sunday night.
The banana and papaya growers in the district, whose business was already on the decline because of a lack of demand owing to the lockdown, were dealt a severe blow by the hales.
The farmers had been seeking special trains to transport fruits to northern states in view of the closure of Koyambedu market about 15 days ago.
At Korrapadu village in the worst-hit mandal of Bukkarayasamudram, small growers had cultivated papaya as it had a good demand in the market and were expecting an yield of 300 tonnes in five acres of land.
“I invested ₹20 lakh on the farm and was expecting a return of ₹80 lakh from it, but the untimely gales shattered our dreams,” said Sk. Basha, looking at the damaged crops.
Preliminary survey
As per the preliminary survey of the Horticulture Department on Monday afternoon, Mr. Basha is one among 566 farmers in the district who suffered severe damages in their crops of banana, mango, papaya, arecanut and chrysanthemum.
The loss incurred by the damages in 62.2 hectares of crops spread over Brahmasamudram, Kalyandurg, Kambadur, Anantapur and Bukkarayasamudram mandals on Sunday alone was put at ₹48.6 lakh.
Estimating the total loss in the district at ₹6.36 crore, Deputy Director Horticulture S. Subbarayudu said that this was the third such major incidence of gales damaging the horticulture crops in the season.
Recommendations and damage estimates were being sent to the Commissionerate at Amaravati for providing relief to the affected farmers.
