Heavy rains in Karnataka have caused widespread destruction to farm lands. The Karnataka Government has estimated rain-related losses at Rs 7,647.13 crore since June this year. Farmers are staring at heavy losses due to excess rains as their yields have been destroyed.

"Since June 1, a total of 23,794 houses have been damaged. Agricultural crop loss has been estimated at 5.51 lakh hectares and horticultural crop loss at 17,050 hectares and multi-year crop loss at 12,014 hectares. This does not include the losses due to rains in the last few days," Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Tuesday.

The state government will be requesting the Centre seek relief of Rs 1,012.5 crore as per NDRF norms.

Over the past week, heavy rains have destroyed hundreds of acres of agricultural fields in Chikkaballapura.

According to Chikkaballapura Deputy Commissioner SM Nagaraj, over 100 acres of agricultural fields and 700 acres of horticultural fields have been damaged due to excess rains. Fruits, and flowers, among other yields, have been destroyed.

As rains have reduced in Raichur, the farmers in the district are shocked to know that their yields have been destroyed due to the incessant rains.

Farmers in Raichur, Sindhanur, Lingasugur, and Devdurg are worst-affected. Hundreds of acres of paddy, cotton, and other crops have been damaged.

Several acres of fields are still under water and the farmers are waiting for the water to recede. Farmers claim that the damage might be much more as they are yet to assess the damage.

For the past one week, Ramanagara has been witnessing heavy rains causing huge losses to farmers. Crops in 1,100 hectares have been destroyed. It includes 600 acres of agricultural and 600 acres of horticultural fields.

Heavy rains have lashed Chamarajanagar district causing huge losses to farmers. Yelandur taluk is one of the worst-affected areas. Hundreds of acres of crops have been destroyed as water released from Suvarnavathi Dam flooded the agricultural fields. Even though the rains have reduced, the rainwater is yet to recede in the fields. Turmeric, Banana, Sugarcane, and various vegetables have been destroyed.

Farmers in Haveri district have also suffered a similar fate. Due to heavy rains in the past three days, hundreds of acres of maize have been destroyed.

Farmers in Haveri taluk are worst-affected as several water bodies are overflowing due to which the fields are inundated destroying the crops.

Farmers claim they have spent Rs 60-80,000 per acre and are now facing huge losses. They are hoping that the government will compensate them for the huge losses.

In Raibag taluk of Belagavi district, farmers claim their crops of 200 acres have been destroyed due to incessant rains. Sugarcane, soybean, maize, groundnut and other yields have been destroyed. Farmers claim they were just recovering from the losses suffered during COVID but excess rains have again piled on the misery this year.

Source - https://www.news9live.com