Around 75% crop damaged due to excess rain: RC Faldu
Rajkot/Gandhinagar: Gujarat was staring at a massive crop damage with the state government on Tuesday admitting that up to 7% of the standing crop face the danger of being washed out due to the incessant rain.
Agriculture minister RC Faldu said, “Due to excessive rainfall, more than 75% crop area is facing danger of the damage.
The situation is particularly grim in Saurashtra and north Gujarat where farms have virtually turned into water bodies.
District collectors have been asked to survey damage to crops and the union government has been informed of a likely large-scale damage to crops because of heavy flooding in the fields. The last round of torrential rainfall has ruined the crops before farmers could harvest them.
Dilip Sakhiya, president of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, Rajkot said, “In Rajkot district, sesame, groundnut, cotton and bajra have suffered extensive damage. In areas where the rain was delayed, farmers cultivated some other crop which are not mentioned in the ‘pani patrak’. We demand that the government pays crop insurance to the farmers without considering what they cultivated.”
District collectors have been asked to survey damage to crops and the union government has been informed of a likely large-scale damage to crops because of heavy flooding in the fields. The last round of torrential rainfall has ruined the crops before farmers could harvest them.
Dilip Sakhiya, president of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, Rajkot said, “In Rajkot district, sesame, groundnut, cotton and bajra have suffered extensive damage. In areas where the rain was delayed, farmers cultivated some other crop which are not mentioned in the ‘pani patrak’. We demand that the government pays crop insurance to the farmers without considering what they cultivated.”
Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Gir-Somnath, Junagadh and Amreli have recorded an average 200mm, much higher than their average annual rainfall.
Dilip Gohil, a farmer in Badhiya village Amreli’s Savarkundla taluka said, “The unprecedented heavy rainfall has destroyed sesame, juvar and bajra in my field. I was hoping to earn money after cultivation, but now I feel I am robbed.”
According to official data, the state has received 140% excess rainfall. Pal Ambalia, chairman of Gujarat Kisan Congress said, “According to 2016 manual of central government, the state is required to declare ‘green drought’ immediately and pay compensation to farmers for the damage caused by the heavy rain and flood-like situation in many talukas.”
Rajkot MP Mohan Kundaria also wrote to chief minister Vijay Rupani on September 29 asking him to ‘resurvey the damage done during kharif season after the rain stops.”
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