Heavy rain damages standing paddy crop

Just when things were falling back in place for the farmers in Kuttanad, heavy rain in the region has submerged nearly 600 hectares of standing crop. In the last one week, several areas in the district headquarters and certain low-lying areas have been inundated. This has affected the harvest and procurement process in Kuttanad. The consequence: a fourth consecutive season of crop loss and severe financial setbacks looms large over the farmers.According to Principal Agriculture Officer P.S. Soman, 75 hectares of paddy were submerged in the rains on Thursday. With this, the total area of paddy cultivation that has been submerged in Kuttanad in the last one week, partially in some areas and fully in most, stands at 579 hectares. "The figure could rise, since the rains are continuing," said Mr. Soman, who inspected the submerged paddy fields on Thursday. Harvesting was on in most of these areas, while in many paddy fields, farmers were about to begin the process in a week. While efforts are on to pump rainwater out of the fields using electric motors, complaints about faulty pumps are also cropping up.The danger of crucial outer bunds that protect the fields from surging waters of the Pampa river and rising waters of the Vembanad Lake being breached is also looming large. District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan, who sent a preliminary report to the government on Thursday, forecasting "vast damage to the paddy crop", said the district administration was doing everything possible to prevent the situation from going out of control. Though it was slightly early to estimate the damage in financial terms, Mr. Balakrishnan told The Hindu that the loss so far would not be less than Rs.50 lakh. Kuttanad farmers suffered huge losses in March 2007, when delayed procurement and rains together inflicted damage while Alappuzha's biggest floods in 16 years wreaked havoc on the crop in July 2007. In March this year, unexpected rains dealt heavier blows, causing damage of over Rs.70 crore. Now, rains are once again threatening to drown the farmer in deeper losses.

The Hindu, 24^th October 2008