The heavy spell of southwest monsoon rainfall over Kerala, especially in the northern districts, in July appears to have left the State’s farm sector in shambles.
The sector covering an array of agricultural and cash crops reported heavy crop loss between July 1 and July 26, when finally the rainfall began to taper off, show data with the Agriculture Department. During this period, 43,133 farmers reported crop loss in a total of 8,195.65 hectares, reveal crop-wise and district-wise data for the period compiled by the department.
The financial loss will be ascertained through field verification, an official said.
Worst-hit
Banana, vegetables, coconut and paddy are among the crops that appear to be the worst hit while Malappuram, Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram districts topped the list in terms of area affected. The districts of Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kannur, Idukki and Wayanad topped the list in terms of the number of farmers affected.
Crop-wise losses include banana (bunched and non-bunched) in 6,103.92 ha (14.67 lakh in number), 150.10 ha of main field paddy, nutmeg (bearing) in 431.17 ha, rubber (tapping and without tapping) in 156.4 ha, coconut in 504.36 ha and arecanut in 282.45 ha, cool-season vegetables in 100 ha and other vegetables in 105.38 ha.
Other crops damaged in the heavy rainfall include cardamom (64.38 ha), ginger (3.2 ha), turmeric (3.2 ha), arecanut (25.42 ha), pepper (33.16 ha) and tapioca (95.18 ha).
In all 14 districts
Farmers in all 14 districts reported crop loss in July. This include 8,167 farmers in Ernakulam, 6,542 in Kozhikode, 5,448 in Thrissur, 3,917 in Wayanad, 3,826 in Idukki and 3,024 farmers in Kasaragod.
The southwest monsoon which started off on a weak note over the State in June had flexed its muscles by July. Several districts were on yellow and orange level alerts for heavy to very heavy rainfall on multiple days of the month.
