After the state witnessed sudden heavy rains over the last week, it has been the local farmers that have been struck with a major blow, as with the harvest season around the corner, many were undertaking harvesting of paddy in their fields.
Much of the paddy crop has been damaged due to these rains, however, farmers are hoping to get the best of the harvest which will be completed in the next few days.
Across the state, almost all talukas have seen incessant rains in the last week, resulting in damage to the standing crop. The low-lying areas across the state were left waterlogged, with paddy crops submerged in the water. The ripened paddy – ready to be harvested – were left lying in water as farmers were helpless.
May farmers now indulge in the services of mechanized harvesting machines; however, farmers say, that with the water collected in some parts of the field, it will become difficult to engage these large machines.
Several farmers are witnessing at least a certain part of their fields crop go to waste, as with the rains, the paddy has been left to rot. Furthermore, with mechanized means of harvesting not possible in all areas of the field, manual labour has to be engaged to get the paddy harvested.
This, according to many farmers, will only be time-consuming and will be an added cost to their already cash-tight pockets.
Many farmers along Salcete’s Curtorim and Raia areas too have witnessed parts of their fields get damaged. They claim that some were lucky enough to complete their harvesting in the last week, while those who were left, have had to bear the brunt of the sudden rains.
Not all those who harvested escaped though, as some, who were in the process of collecting the paddy too, had the sudden rains throw their plans apart with some harvested crop getting damaged.
Farmers in the Pernem taluka area too have had a devastating impact because of the showers with many left with hardly any paddy for themselves to keep for the family, or for the next cultivation season.
A local report stated that at least 12 hectares of crop area has been damaged in the Canacona area due to these sudden rains. 305 hectares of area was brought under cultivation this year in the taluka, the zonal agriculture officer was quoted as saying.
Several farmers have addressed their grievances to the zonal office, and according to the officer, the applications will be forwarded to the authorities concerned after scrutiny.
Farmers have requested some sort of compensation from the government, and have asked the agriculture department to intervene and provide some relief.
