News
Rain damage likely to make veggies, rice costlier
View(s):Farmers and agricultural officials warn that prices of rice and vegetables may rise further if the heavy downpours continue.
Dambulla: Paddy field more like a river. Pic by Jayaratne Wickramaarachchi
Namal Karunaratne, the president of All Island Farmers Association said the flood has caused crop losses and damaged 75,000 acres of paddy fields, mainly in Batticaloa, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Mannar, and Kilinochchi in the past two weeks.
Rice growers had recently completed the sowing and they will have to replant because of the damage from flooding, he said.
Vegetable growers whose crop had also been recently planted, suffered the biggest losses. Crops such as leeks and radish were the worst affected.
Mr Karunaratna said that some of the vegetables were about to be harvested, while the lack of sunlight also affected the crop. Fungal diseases have destroyed some of the crop.
He said many who cultivated paddy this year suffered financial losses, but have not been compensated.
Saliyawewa: A farmer looks despondently at his inundated paddyfield. Pic by Kanchana Kumara Ariyawansa
Nadesan Suntharesan, president of the farmer’s association in Batticaloa, also complained about the lack of compensation.
“Even though we were informed that we will be given Rs 10,000 by the government, officials from the respective units have not visited us,’’ he said.
“Most of us have taken loans to cultivate paddy, but in this situation we are unable to pay back those loans.’’
District Disaster Management coordinator, Upul Nanayakkara said flooding has damaged paddy ahead of the harvest in the Polonnaruwa District. More than 1,000 acres of paddy fields have been destroyed.
Paddy cultivations in Maritainpaththu and Puthukuduirippu areas in Mullativu have been destroyed, Ms Rupavathee Keestharan, the GA, said. Around 1,015 acres of paddy cultivations were damaged from flooding, she added.