News
Working together to save their paddylands
View(s):While communal disharmony simmers in the South, farmer organisations in the East from the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities are working together to save more than 20,000 acres of paddy affected by the prevailing drought.
The dry spell has resulted in the Mavil Aru anicut (watergate), a tributary of the Mahaweli river not getting sufficient water. This has affected over 22,500 acres of paddy lands in the Verugal, Serunuwara and Muttur areas.
Farmers representing 42 farmer organisations have got together to dump sand bags in order to retain water for paddy farming.
Irrigation Engineer of the area S. Rajkumar said about 8,000 sand bags are needed to place in the Kandakadu area.
Pic by Amadoru Amarajeewa