Summer showers coupled with strong winds have affected the harvesting and procurement of paddy in Kuttanad.
Large tracts of fields with standing crops, including those ready for harvest, have been submerged in water. Farmers say that the rain has flattened matured crops in several hectares in the region. Besides, the rain drenched several tonnes of harvested paddy stored in paddy polders for shifting to rice mills. The farmers are forced to keep the harvested paddy in polders or in open due to a lack of proper storage facilities.
Meanwhile, a number of padasekharams (paddy fields) in the region have been forced to delay harvesting as combine harvesters are getting stuck on the field due to waterlogging. The district has been receiving moderate to heavy showers for more than a week. With the weather agency predicting more rain in the coming days, the farmers are a worried lot.
According to the Agriculture department, the farmers have undertaken rice cultivation in more than 26,000 hectares (ha) spread across 587 padasekharams in the district, a major portion of which is in Kuttanad. The paddy harvest, which got under way in the last week of February, has been completed in about 25% of the area under cultivation. Supplyco has so far procured around 40,000 tonnes of paddy from the district, mostly from Kuttanad.
Earlier, the sowing for 'puncha' season got delayed in several areas due to heavy downpours and floods that lashed the district in October-November last year. As a result, the harvest and procurement of paddy are set to go beyond the normal schedule into the first week of June.
At least two houses were damaged at Thakazhi after trees fell on them. Power supply was also hit in several places in Kuttanad following heavy downpours and winds that lashed the region on Friday. .
