ALAPPUZHA: Flash floods caused by copious summer rain in the district in the past few days have caused heavy damage to paddy cultivation in Upper Kuttanad.

Paddy crop in hundreds of acres in the Upper Kuttanad panchayats of Veeyapuram, Haripad, Pallippad and Chennithala that was ready for harvest was destroyed in the sudden floods.

The loss incurred by farmers is estimated to be of several crores of rupees.

The farmers' organisations in the area said paddy crop in 569 hectares in Veeyapuram, 255 hectares in Haripad, 592 hectares in Pallippad and nearly 1,000 hectares in Chennithala panchayat have been completely destroyed in the floods.

In addition, paddy crop in thousands of acres of fields have been partially destroyed. Even the harvested paddy kept at yards has been destroyed in the heavy rain, said farmers.

Hopes belied

The farmers said they were expecting bumper harvest this time, as there was no shortage of water during the current season. They expected to earn good profits this season, which would help them repay loans taken from banks and cooperative societies.

A large number of farmers in the area are poor who cultivate the crop on land taken on lease. They depend on loans for cultivation and repay it after harvest. The farmers said they had been suffering repeated loss from natural calamities during the last few seasons.

The intrusion of saline water into the fields had damaged the paddy crop during the last season. A large extent of paddy crop had been destroyed by flood and drought. The Haripad MLA, T.K. Devakumar, said the failure of contractors to pump water out of the paddy fields had aggravated the flood.

The contractors had been entrusted the task of pumping water out of the fields. Mr. Devakumar said the District Collector should declare the present catastrophe as natural calamity.

Plea to Government

He said the Government should take steps to enable farmers to get the benefits of the crop insurance scheme against natural calamities.

Almost all farmers in the area had paid their contribution to the scheme and the Government should also pay its contribution to the insurance company, he said

The MLA said though the Agriculture Minister had recently held discussions with officials on the problems faced by farmers, she had not taken the views of farmers or representatives of people in the area.

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