Significant damage has been caused by the past week's heavy showers, which flattened the paddy crop that was ready for harvest and left some fields flooded.
In Canacona, Gulem, Cotigão, and Gaond-ongrem farmers reported that the unseasonable rains had flattened their crops, which they fear will affect the grain quality and total yield.
Every effort we put forth from June to July has been in vain. Farmers stated that the entire harvesting, drying, and threshing process has been significantly impacted. ‘We had to postpone the harvest because of the rain, and now we can only harvest once the weather improves because we need sunlight to dry the paddy’, they said.
Paddy is an essential subsistence crop for growers in Canacona, and the possible loss this season would be extremely costly. Because of the terrain, the majority of the taluka's paddy cultivation, from planting to harvesting, requires a lot of manual labor.
The Canacona Zonal Agriculture Office (ZAO) estimates that kharif cultivation is practiced on about 1,800 hectares of land in the taluka. Local paddy farmer from Pernen, Santosh Pednekar pleaded with the state government to evaluate the damage right away and provide the farmers with compensation. 'We need immediate support, even though financial compensation can't cover up for the emotional and physical toll of our hard work', stated the farmers. In Pernem, the crop had been submerged after the season's heavy rainfall, thus Re-cultivation had to be adopted by farmers.
According to farmers, the machine cannot get into the fields due to stagnant rainwater, so the crop that is standing cannot be harvested too. The crop has been harmed by wild animals for years. However, it was the rain this year. Another farmer stated, 'The government ought to pay the farmers'.