In a huge blow to farmers, the recent heavy rain and floodwaters have damaged paddy crop spread on 63,873 acres in the district. As per the block-wise breakup of crop loss, paddy in 9,062 acres were damaged in Bilaspur block, the highest in all seven blocks of the district.

The crop in 7,486 acres were damaged in Radaur block, followed by 3,149 acres in Saraswati Nagar block, 2,407 acres in Jagadhri block, 1,889 acres in Chhachhrauli block, 941 acres in Sadhaura block and 600 acres in Pratap Nagar block.

Farmers said the floodwaters wreaked havoc on farmers, causing huge damage to paddy, sugarcane and green fodder. “Almost all paddy plants were washed away in my 1-acre field,” said Arun Kumar of Jathlana village.

Vijay Kumar of Behrampur village said paddy crop was rotting or drying up in fields. “My crop in 2 acres is still submerged. It will cause huge financial loss to us,” he said.

Farmers had to suffer huge losses last year, too, due to dwarf diseases in paddy.

“For the past two-three years, we have been facing losses due to diseases or floodwaters. The government should help farmers and give them adequate compensation,” he added.

Rakesh Poria, Subject Matter Specialist (plant protection) of Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, said as per a survey by the department, it was found that an estimated 81,256 acres, where paddy, sugarcane, maize, pulses and other crops were planted were ruined due to rain or floodwaters in district.

Source - https://www.tribuneindia.com