Govt Committed to Protecting Horticulture Farmers: Minister Kinjarapu Atchannaidu

The Andhra Pradesh government is taking proactive steps to protect horticulture crops from the growing impact of water scarcity , Agriculture Minister Kinjarapu Atchannaidu said on Monday. He stated that officials had been alerted well in advance about increasing water stress in sweet orange orchards across Anantapur district, with continuous monitoring and farmer awareness programmes already in progress.

According to the minister, sweet orange cultivation is spread across nearly 37,000 hectares in the district, while irrigation-related problems have been identified in around 2,260 hectares . Farmers have been advised to adopt modern water-conservation methods such as live mulching, weed mats and farm ponds to reduce moisture loss and protect orchards from extreme conditions.

Severe irrigation shortages have been reported in nearly 875 hectares across three villages, forcing farmers to spend heavily on transporting water to save their crops. Rising transportation costs and scattered plantations have worsened the situation, with some farmers reportedly abandoning nearly 4.5 hectares of orchards due to mounting financial pressure.

The minister said insufficient water availability in the HNSS canal system prevented authorities from filling local tanks, further aggravating the crisis in affected villages. District officials are currently supervising relief measures and efforts to supply life-saving water to orchards.

Referring to a similar crisis faced earlier by acid lime farmers in Yadiki mandal, Atchannaidu said growers managed to protect their crops despite severe financial strain and later benefited from favourable market prices. He assured that the issue of government support for water transportation costs would be brought to the attention of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to ensure relief for affected farmers.