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.
Districtwise data
During this period, 43,133 farmers reported crop loss in 8,195.65 hectares, reveal cropwise and districtwise data for the period compiled by the department.
The financial loss will be ascertained through field verification, an official said.
Banana, vegetables, coconut and paddy are among the crops that appear to be the worst hit.
Malappuram, Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram districts topped the list in terms of area affected.
Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kannur, Idukki and Wayanad topped the list in terms of the number of farmers affected.
Crop-wise losses
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 areca nut in 282.45 ha, cool-season vegetables in 100 ha and other vegetables in 105.38 ha.
Other crops damaged include cardamom (64.38 ha), ginger (3.2 ha), turmeric (3.2 ha), areca nut (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.
They 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.
Southwest monsoon
The southwest monsoon, which started off on a weak note over the State in June, 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.
