Kerala - Alappuzha   

Steps taken to speed up harvest

ALAPPUZHA: The district administration has dispatched teams of officials to Salem and Dindigul in Tamil Nadu apart from contacting other districts in Kerala itself to arrange combine harvesters to speed up the paddy harvest in Kuttanad.

The harvest in several areas has been delayed by over 20 days in a majority of the padasekharams due to the unexpected summer rains, which incidentally resumed on Friday after a four-day respite. The harvest should actually be done when the paddy crop is 120 days old. However, due to the rain, the crop in some padasekharams, like that of Pushkaran who committed suicide in Edathua on Saturday, is now 148 days old.

District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan said at least 25 combine harvesters were expected to reach Kuttanad by Sunday and Monday. “The Salem Collector N. Mathivanan and Dindigul Collector R. Vasuki are personal friends of mine and they are also trying their best to help us. Our teams are in touch with Collectors and officials in other districts as well to arrange as many machines as possible at the earliest,” Mr. Balakrishnan said, adding that he hoped to finish the harvest in the remaining padasekharams within 10 days.

The harvest, which would also have labourers being deployed wherever available and necessary, would be done in a systematic manner with the process to begin in padasekharams based on the age of the crop.

A meeting of padasekharam representatives in the Champakulam block panchayat is being convened on Monday to chalk out the harvest plan there. The Collector was also contacting labour unions, service organisations and social welfare organisations to help the farmers and the relief work in whichever way possible.

The assessment of the damage suffered by farmers of vegetables and other crops was also progressing, officials said.

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