100 acres of paddy fields damaged in unseasonal rain

The paddy fields at Balige in Mavinakere village and Kalasa Gram Panchayat limits are in pathetic condition. There are over 25 families growing paddy here, which have been affected and over 100 acres of paddy fields have been devastated. Everywhere there are paddy plants soaked in stagnant water. While at some places the paddy has sprouted in many places the tender paddy have rotten and blackened in water due to incessant rains which lashed in November.

The families have been left in dire straits after the crop loss because it was with the help of the same produce that they had to sustain living for the entire year. There are some families which have now picked their hope on the 5 kg or even lesser yielding areca plants for livelihood.

“We are farmers and we know no other art to sustain a living. This year we have been doomed. We have no idea how we are going to live for the whole year,” says one of the farmer with damp eyes.

Balige village has very few patches of land cultivated with coffee, areca and other commercial crops, which means paddy is the main crop grown here. More important is the fact that these farmers follow organic farming and their techniques are primitive and not influenced by modern techniques. All in all the ‘feeder is going to starve’ with such an adversity.