Bastar: The recent unseasonal rains have provided a slight respite from the scorching heat, at least for the Bastar district; however, they have turned out to be a nightmare for local farmers amid the recent floods. For the past five days, it has been raining heavily over the region with stormy winds that have destroyed standing crops and defeated those who had been surviving on a drought of the Indravati River, which had dried off.
Farming activities in the region were already restricted due to lack of enough irrigation. The farmers struggled to water their crops as the Indravati River was almost dry. However, the second blow of nature has been now unseasonal rains and strong winds that battered and flattened their crops. Hundreds of acres of maize crops have been ruined just along the river. The plants have collapsed and lie flat on the ground before the fields have been flooded.
Local farmer Puran Singh Kashyap was clearly distressed, saying, first of all, the river dried up, and they could not irrigate properly. “The crop had just matured, and now, with the crop on its tail end, the unexpected rain and strong winds completely destroyed it. All we ask the government to do is to assess the damage quickly and pay (us) compensation.”
The farmers have beckoned the state’s agriculture minister to come to their aid immediately. Farmers are, however, worried that any aid will be late as district administration teams have begun to survey the affected areas. They worry that with the next agricultural cycles depending on immediate financial support, the longer that compensation process takes, the worse their situation becomes.
The blow from nature has not only hit livelihoods but also has dented the farming community’s moral,e which is still waiting for the government to act fast and take aid.
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