Even as the Nilgiris district had received 1600mm of rainfall in 2017, which was close to the normal rainfall of 1700mm, the rainfall pattern was erratic affecting vegetable farmers. In March the normal rainfall used to be 24mm but last year the rain received was 100mm. Likewise the rain received during July and September was 206mm and 338mm respectively against the normal rain of 405mm and 152mm respectively. "Excess and erratic rain in March and September last year had damaged the standing vegetable crops causing huge loss to farmers," said N Viswanathan, a member of Nilgiri Farmers' Association. "Heavy rain during sowing and harvesting season also caused heavy loss last year," he added. During the last September harvest, the farmers who had cultivated vegetables like carrot, cabbage and cauliflower saw their crops rot in the field. According to officials, about 30% of total yield of last year was lost due the rain. The farming in the hill district is rain-fed, says Shiva Subramaniam Samraj, joint director of horticulture (in charge). "Erratic rain last year affected the crops. If this year rainfall is also erratic, it will be a disaster for farmers. We cannot predict the rain pattern to take precautionary measures," he adds. However, tea plantations were not affected by the erratic rain. "As tea crops were planted on slopes, they were not affected by heavy and erratic rain. Last year rain would faciliate good yield," said Arjunan, a farmer. Viswanathan suggested instead of sowing three times every year, farmers should sow twice. "Giving rest to the land during November and December would be beneficial as the weeds and worms would die in the winter weather," he said. Source - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com