El Niño impact: Paddy area in Andhra’s Vizianagaram falls from 1 lakh hectares to 20,760

A tenant farmer, Somayajula Suryanarayan of Buchhannapeta in Nellimarla mandal, spent around ₹35,000 on four acres taken on lease for the kharif season. As he was not aware of the El Niño impact, he began agriculture work in the first week of June 2026. It is the same for other farmers in the district. “The agriculture department should have cautioned us about the deficit rainfall in the kharif season. It would have made us cautious while making investment in the kharif season,” he said.

Lack of assured irrigation water from rivers and depletion of groundwater added to the woes of farmers in many areas of the district. The situation is no better for farmers dependent on irrigation water, as little has been released from the Thotapalli reservoir on the Nagavali river. “All canals have completely dried up in Cheepurupalli mandal with the non-release of water from Thotapalli reservoir. Deficit rainfall has further impacted agriculture in the mandal, which is always in first place in the production of paddy, maize, sugarcane and other crops,” said Kanchupalli Satyam, a farmer of Cheepurupalli mandal.

With the deficit rainfall, farm fields look like barren lands in several mandals, including Bhogapuram, Pusapatirega, Nellimarla and Gurla. Twenty-four of the district’s 27 mandals recorded a shortfall. Normally, paddy is sown on 1,00,251 hectares in the district but the crop area has come down to 20,760 hectares. There is around 50% drop in the crop area under maize, sugarcane, pulses and others.

Normally, the southwest monsoon brings around 455.9 mm of rainfall during the kharif season, but the district received only 286.2 mm, according to V.T. Ramarao, Joint Director of the Vizianagaram agriculture department. He asked the farmers to shift to commercial crops that needed less water and grew quickly. He said the department had taken up awareness programmes on alternate crops and the crop insurance provided by the government.