Soaked paddy heaps bring tears to farmers

Vizianagaram: Farmers of Vizianagaram district in many areas are worried as their paddy fields which are in harvesting stage are submerged due to Phethai cyclone. At many other places, the colour of paddy has been changed as the yield kept in heaps and piles soaked in water.

The grains may lead to sprouting and change colour. The farmers are forming channels to drain out the stagnated water from their fields. Actually, when compared with Titli cyclone, this Phethai cyclone has less harmed the district as there are no horticultural crops like banana.

Hundreds of acres of banana orchards are collapsed during Titli and even paddy crop also was not yet sown. Those fields are filled up with water. But this time the farmers are experiencing a different situation. Most of the paddy crop was cut and the farmers didn't bring the crop to their threshing platforms (kallams).

The farmers simply piled the crop and left them on the farms only. Now those piles became wet with the rain water. They are worrying unless they make it dry, the paddy grains would sprout or the colour may be changed. If the colour is changed or turn into black, the price would come down and the rice would be broken up into pieces.

K.Narayana Rao , a farmer of Gantyada lamented, ``Actually I planned to harvest the crop last week but due to unavailability of machine,I postponed the work. Now I'm in trouble and I am forced to run into my fields to cover those piles with tarpaulin.

Fields in Atchtuthapuram of Gurla mandal also were filled with water. The district received 84 mm rain fall in the past 48 hours. Mentada, Gajapathinagaram, Bondapalli and Pachi penta have received heavy rains for 11 cm in the past 48 hours.