Farmers in drought-prone Prakasam district are a worried lot in the wake of meagre inflows into reservoirs across the river Krishna in Andhra Pradesh coupled with 48.4% deficit rainfall during the water year so far.
As a result, crop coverage has been a poor 22% of the normal cropped area of 5,36,442 acres during the kharif season with red gram, the principal pulse crop grown in the district under rain-fed condition, dipping to as low as 33,000 acres as on September 3 as against the normal extent of 1,97,000 acres, a report compiled by the Agriculture department said. The district had a rainfall of only 155.8 mm as against the normal rainfall of 301.95 mm as on date.
