Heavy summer showers lashing Kerala in the last three days have wreaked havoc in the state’s ‘rice bowl’ Kuttanad in central Travancore area where vast stretches of matured paddy has been destroyed.
Besides the unseasonal rains, resistance by unions of farm workers to the use of harvesting machines have added to the woes of paddy growers, who were expecting a bumper crop this season.
According to farming circles in Kuttanad, standing crop at about 10,000 hectares of land was in danger due to flooding of the area.
Also, huge quantities of harvested bunches had piled up as farmers find it difficult to start next stage of processing like threshing and winnowing due to hostile weather.
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