UNIDENTIFIED PEST DESTROYS PADDY CULTIVATION IN KALTHOTA

Team of agricultural officers carrying out research

Paddy cultivation in Kalthota area has been affected by an unidentified pest much to the anxiety of the farmers who expected a bumper harvest in the Yala season. They pointed out that a vast area of paddy cultivation had been destroyed by the pest which was spreading fast. Farmers warned that more than 3000 acres of paddy cultivation would be in danger if it spread all over the Kalthota scheme.

President of the Welipathayaya Farmer Organisation P.S. Seneviratne

(56) said the majority of the people in the area depended on agriculture and that paddy cultivation was their main occupation.

He said the pest had never been experienced in the area and even the agricultural officials wanted to carry out laboratory tests to identify it.

“The officials collected samples of rice pods and soil, but did not prescribe any chemical. They said it was not possible to use any chemical before identifying the pest. We obtain loans to cultivate our fields and we are in debt to the banks and businessmen. Now we have been left without means to settle our loans. We will be in a predicament unless the government paid compensation for crop devastation,” he said.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Kalthota Agrarian Development Office said a team of agricultural officers from Batalagoda Paddy Research Institute, Hambantota and Debarawewa Agricultural Research Institutes were carrying out research.