Disasters set back country’s fight against poverty ‘by years,’ aid official says
The Associated Press, Thurs., Oct . 8, 2009
NEW
DELHI - Millions of poor villagers across southern India are facing an
imminent food shortage following months of intense drought and recent
devastating floods, aid agencies warned Thursday.
The
worst floods to hit the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh in a century have killed about 280 people, destroyed or washed
away millions of acres of cropland and contaminated grain stocks in
millions of homes.
"Floods
and drought have set back India's fight against poverty by years," said
Jayakumar Christian, director of World Vision India, an aid agency
working in the region.
The
state government of Andhra Pradesh, one of India's traditional
rice-bowls, said food grain production in the state was expected to
plummet by more than 900,000 tons due to the floods.
"Rice
and other crops in an area of 260,000 hectares (642,000 acres) have
been destroyed," state agriculture minister N. Raghuveera Rao said.
Wave of migration?
The
floods came at a critical time when many farmers had sowed their winter
crops and much of this has been washed away or damaged, Rao said.
The government has not announced plans to help residents deal with food shortages.
The
were concerns among aid workers that the damage would likely set off a
wave of migration to nearby towns and cities as farm workers, whose
homes were destroyed and farmlands unfit for cultivation, tried to earn
a living.
Aid
agency ACT International has appealed for support for relief operations
in the region, saying it was at risk of severe shortages due to the
floods.
"India is entering a period of severe food vulnerability," Christian said by telephone from Bijapur in northern Karnataka.
At
least 220 people were killed in Karnataka and another 63 in Andhra
Pradesh. More than 1.5 million people in relief camps across both
states were beginning to trek back to their homes as the skies cleared
after nearly a week of torrential downpours.
"Everything we owned is destroyed," wailed Anjanamma, an impoverished farm worker in Chickmanchal village in northern Karnataka.
She said the family's annual stock of rice and lentils were soaked and inedible.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
