RAIN DESTROYS 200 ACRES OF VEGETABLE CULTIVATION IN PUTTALAM

This trend has continued for more than twenty years. We don’t have a solution to this problem. We have spent hundreds and thousands of rupees for cultivation

Vegetables grown in about 200 acres in several villages including Sethapola in the Puttalam District were destroyed by stagnant rainwater following the recent torrential rains, farmers in the area said. According to the farmers, the lands cultivated with vegetables such as long-beans, bottle-gourds, okra, and chillies had been destroyed as they were submerged by water in villages such as Daluwa, Sethapola, Mel Colony, Kombuwattana Colony and Nagarasena due to incessant rains. They said that they did not get any relief in spite of the fact that Rs. 100,000 had been spent for the cultivation of these vegetables. A farmer, S. Robert said that every year their farmlands were being destroyed due to heavy rains.

“This trend has continued for more than twenty years.

We don’t have a solution to this problem. We have spent hundreds and thousands of rupees for cultivation. We are unable to bear the hardships in this way at this time of the year when the prices of the vegetables are good,” he said.

He said that this situation had emerged due to the reason that the streams that convey water to the Puttalam lagoon had been blocked at several places.

When inquired about this situation, the Assistant Director of the Puttalam Disaster Management Unit A.M.R.N.K. Alahakone said that this situation had arisen during the past several years.

But, according to the villagers, the main canal that carries water to the lagoon from the villages had been blocked.