Unseasonal rain puts farmers in Wayanad in a fix

KALPETTA

Unseasonal showers coupled with cloudy sky conditions during the harvesting season have put coffee, arecanut and paddy farmers in Wayanad in a fix.

The rain that lashed the district in the past five days aggravated farmers’ concerns over timely disposal of their produce.

Incidents of harvested paddy getting soaked in the unexpected drizzle were reported from various parts of the district including Thrissilery, Panavally, Kallur, Chekadi, Pakkom, and Cheeral. Many farmers in the Thrissilery area harvested the crop around six days ago, but they were forced to keep it in the field itself as they were not able to thresh the produce, Johnson Oliappuram, president of Muthumari-Areekara Padashekhara Samiti at Thrissilery said.

Most farmers have cultivated traditional rice varieties like Gandhkassala and Jeerakassala by following the organic way. The lodging nature of tall varieties of rice plants during rain is a major concern for farmers, Mr. Johnson said. Once the plants are lodged, farmers cannot use combined harvesters to harvest the crop. Manual harvest is more expensive, and dearth of skilled workers has also puts farmer in a tight spot.

Though combined harvesters have been brought to the district from the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka a few weeks ago, the machines were yet to be operated owing to the unseasonal rain.

The condition of coffee farmers who had harvested the crop just before the rain is no different as they could not dry coffee berries. The rain also caused the untimely blossoming of coffee plants, and it may lead to delay in the harvest further, sources said.