Farmers in Anantapur stare at dark future
The Hindu
As per govt. figures, standing crops in over 2.25 lakh acres are damaged
Farmers in Anantapur district are at their wits’ end with incessant rain from November 16 damaging their standing crops beyond a chance of retrieval in more than 2.25 lakh acres, going by the State government assessment on Saturday.
Sanna Gurrappa, a tenant farmer, had sown Sona Masoori paddy variety in 3 acres alongside Tadakaleru stream in June at Neelampalli in Bukkarayasamudram mandal, investing ₹75,000. But now, with the flood ravishing his crops, he stares at a dark future. “Such flood was witnessed last in 2004,” Gurrappa says.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.