1.38L ha crops lost in downpour

The recent spell of monsoon rains have caused extensive damage to crops in around 1.38 lakh hectares across the state.

“Out of the total 1.38 lakh hectares, crops in 89,731 hectares were completely damaged. Out of 89,909 hectares of paddy submerged in water, 65,434 hectares were completely affected. Even though paddy is more resilient and can withstand water for one week, continuous water stagnation has led to the extensive damage,” C Samayamoorthy, Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, told DT Next.

Tamil Nadu has received over 50 per cent excess rainfall when compared to the previous years. Due to the excess rainfall, crops in Delta districts suffered extensive damage. The Central teams, which took stock of damage in rain-affected areas, also inspected the affected crops.

According to the data provided by the Agriculture Department, Tiruvarur is the worst-affected district as a total of 16,457 hectares of crops were damaged and paddy suffered maximum damage. Next to Tiruvarur, Tiruvannamalai district witnessed damage to crops in 12,402 hectares and here also paddy topped as crops in 11,326 acres spoiled by rains.

Horticultural crops were also damaged extensively in 10,010 hectares. Tapioca was the most affected as 5,640 acres in Cuddalore was completely destroyed.

However, farmers are not happy with the enumeration exercise as they said that damages could be more when compared to the numbers furnished by the state.

“The state says that paddy crops in Kanniyakumari district did not witness any damage, But, in Thovalai region several thousands of acres of paddy have been damaged. The state should go for reassessment,” said KP Perumal, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Farmers Union.