Sweet lime turns bitter for Prakasam farmers

Orchards in 10% of cropped area uprooted

A worried lot: A sweet lime farmer in deep trouble as his orchard withers at Gajelakonda in Prakasam district.

It is a double whammy for sweet lime growers in Prakasam district in view of falling prices and severe drought for the third consecutive year this year.

It has been a Herculean task for the ryots who have sunk up to five bore wells to a depth of 200 ft. to 300 ft. in and around Kanigiri in a desperate bid to save their orchards.

It was only a reprieve as even the bore wells yielded no water after three months or so in view of the prolonged dryspell, says a group of farmers in Chandrasekarapuram. They have uprooted the withered trees after their bore wells had dried up. “How can we go in for drip irrigation when there is not even a trace of water in the bore wells,” asks Narasanna, a farmer.

However, farmers in P.C. Palle village are doing all that is possible to save their orchards by arranging water through tankers during the harsh summer months before the onset of Southwest monsoon. “We fear drop in productivity to five tonnes per hectare this year as against the normal productivity of 15 tonnes,” they add.

Main cause

Their main cause of worry is also the market price for mosambi. Last year, the sweet lime price was ruling at ₹25,000 per tonne but it had drastically fallen to ₹12,000 per tonne this year, laments Obul Reddy, who ploughs a lonely furrow while fellow farmers had migrated to cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad looking for greener pastures. The extent of sweet lime cultivation, which used to be 50,000 acres in the district a couple of years ago, had fallen to 21,000 acres, explains Horticulture Assistant Director I.M. Hariprasad.

The crop had withered in over 1500 acres during this year mainly in Kanigiri, Markapur, Yerragondapalem assembly constituencies, where it is extensively grown, adds Horticulture Assistant Director P. Jenamma.

The State Government should come to the rescue of farmers by providing hybrid tree saplings, subsidised farm inputs and facilitate institutional aid for starting agro-processing units to sustain sweet lime cultivation in the district, says Andhra Pradesh Kavulu Rythu Sangam state secretary N. Ranga Rao.