Harvests halved in Welimada
Farmers in Welimada say their harvests have been halved because heavy rains have ruined their crops.
One farmer in Bokumbura, D.M. Siriwardena, said most of his crops had been destroyed. “I cultivated potatoes and green beans but there was very little to harvest because there were diseases and fungal infections due to the rains,” he said.
“Despite using more pesticides the situation did not improve.”
The chairman of the Welimada Uwa Paranagama Farmers Association, W.M. Gunawardena, said the high prices of vegetable seeds were also sending up vegetable prices: 25g of cabbage seeds was Rs. 1,500, 100g of carrot seeds was Rs. 3,500 while a 50kg bag of seedling potatoes was as high as Rs. 17,000.