FLOOD HAVOC in A.P & KARNATAKA
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A P experienced worst drought up to Sep 09 like the one in 2003. About 1000 mandals were reeling under drought. Come October, there is a deluge and it rained incessantly destroying what ever crops were raised and people experienced loss of property and waited for help spending sleepless nights. People in Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda, Vijayavada and Guntur are the worst affected on account of overflowing krishna river. A P experienced Anavistri (lack of rains) and Ativistri (deluge of rain) during the same year resulting in double damage and destruction.
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The massive flood in the Krishna wreaked havoc in Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda districts as enormous quantities of water were released from Nagarjunasagar dam and Vijayawada’s Prakasam Barrage inundating hundreds of villages rendering over lakhs people homeless.13 lakh people are affected by floods in AP. As many as 478 villages in 87 ‘mandals’ have been severely hit in the last four days with the heaviest flood in river Krishna in last more than 100 years. Over 42,000 houses were damaged in Kurnool district followed by 11,680 in Mahabubnagar and 628 houses in Nalgonda district, they said.
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Unprecedented floods surging in from the swelling Krishna River have put two major reservoirs, Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar, at risk threatening thousands of lives in the state.
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Water touched 890 ft at Srisailam dam. The worrying factor is that the discharge capacity of the dam is 13 lakh cusecs against the present inflows of 17 lakh cusecs. Eleven gates of the Srisailam dam have been opened as over 15 lakh cusecs of inflow was entering into it, an engineering official of the dam said.The 770 MW power generation station on the right side of the reservoir was shut down. DC 021009
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| Heavy rains hit standing crops : |
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Heavy rains that claimed over 240 lives in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka this week have badly hurt the prospects of kharif crops.
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| Maize, soyabean, paddy, cotton and pulses among other crops have been impacted by the unprecedented downpour. More damage to kharif oilseeds such as soyabean and groundnut besides paddy is feared in parts of Maharashtra such as Ratnagiri and Kolhapur. |
In Andhra Pradesh, crops in lakhs of hectares have been inundated in 11 districts. Over half of this is in Kurnool district.
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In Karnataka, standing paddy crop in the irrigated tracts of Raichur and Bellary districts has been affected, while pulses such as red gram (tur) in major growing areas of Gulbarga have been hit. Other pulses such as green gram (moong) and black gram (urad) have been affected too. |
Besides cotton, cereals such as maize and jowar have been affected in Haveri, Bijapur, Bagalkot and Bidar in Karnataka. Horticulture crops such as chilli and onion have also been damaged, sources said.
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The rains have also left sugarcane growers worried in Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot and Bidar districts. “The recently-planted cane could be affected more compared to the standing crop,” said sources at the Southern India Sugar Mills Association.
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The rains could also delay crushing that is set to begin anytime now, they said. Karnataka’s northern districts account for two-thirds of the 54 sugar mills in the State. The rains will impact harvest and transportation of the cane besides recovery, they said.
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Officials in Andhra Pradesh, where there was 30 per cent deficit rainfall until last week, fear the damage could be more as rains continued to lash several parts of the State.
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Excessive rains could further damage the prospects of paddy in Andhra Pradesh, where the crop’s coverage has dropped to 16.68 lakh hectares (lh) against the average 22.57 lh. BL031009
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| Agriculture output may drop by 2-4 per cent, FICCI : |
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Below normal rain to the extent of 20 per cent this year, the worst in 37 years, has led to drought in 44 per cent of India's 626 districts, Ficci said. |
"The overall Kharif output is expected to dip by 15 per cent and this may translate into a lower GDP of 5.2-5.8 per cent versus 6.7 per cent last year," it said adding the agriculture output may drop by 2-4 per cent. |
Quoting the US Department of Agriculture, Ficci said India's rice output is expected to fall sharply to 82 million tonnes in 2009-10 against an early forecast of 88 million tonnes. This would be 17 million tonnes below to 2008-09 production of 99.2 million tonnes. B S 041009 |
| Hoarding, poor monsoon drive up food inflation over 16 pc : |
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At a time when the WPI-based inflation is hovering below 1 one per cent, the food inflation has surged to 16.32 per cent for the week-ended September 19 mainly on account hoarding and fears of shortage due to poor monsoon. Inflation rate based on the CPI for Industrial Workers stood at 11.72 per cent in August |
The rate of increase in prices of food items was only 8 per cent in same period last year, though general inflation ruled as high as 12 per cent. Experts pointed out that the government's poor planning and lack of investment in farm infrastructure have led to food shortage in the country, which is been capitalised by traders. The current price rise is due to hoarding and poor supply chain management. And the government, with no action plan for future, seems to be direction less to set food inflation right.'' |
In the wholesale market, the annual rise in potato price was about by 81 per cent during the week-ended September 19 from the year-ago period, while sugar witnessed a jump of 44.47 per cent, according to government data. Similarly, vegetables rates s oared by 49.44 per cent and pulses by 20 per cent in the review period. Food prices were high in retail markets, where potato was ruling in the range of Rs 20-35 a kg and sugar at Rs 35 a kg. PTI 01109 |
