The 60-acre Kuzhippadavu padasekharam (paddy polder) under the Edathua Krishi Bhavan in Kuttanad was to go under combine harvesters on April 10. Two days after the scheduled harvest, the field continues to remain waterlogged with matured crops lying submerged.
"There won't be much grain left on the plants. As the summer rain continues to lash, we don't know when we will be able to complete dewatering and harvest what is left behind. It will be an arduous task to deploy combine harvesters as the machines would get stuck in the mud" says P.J. Prasad, a paddy farmer.
Mr. Prasad (50), who cultivated paddy in three acres of leased land in the polder, is staring at huge losses. "I have cultivated paddy after taking a loan and I need to repay it. I was expecting a yield of at least 75 quintals this season. Things were going well until heavy downpours began to lash the region last week and upended hopes of a good harvest," he says.
For Thomas Cherian (69) from Mariyapuram, the situation is even worse as he has already abandoned the crop. Mr. Cherian, who cultivated paddy on six acres, has suffered the second crop loss in as many years. Part of the waterlogged 85-acre Ashtamam padasekharam near Edathua where he cultivated the crop has turned dark after the rotting of rice plants.
"This year, I was hoping to make up for the loss suffered in the last Puncha crop season. But it ended in another loss, this time to the tune of ₹1.75 lakh," Mr. Cherian says.
Thousands of farmers who cultivated paddy in the Puncha (first) crop season have suffered losses after incessant rain and strong winds coupled with bund breaches flattened harvest-ready crops in large tracts and submerged several fields in Kuttanad.
According to the preliminary assessment by the Agriculture department, in Alappuzha district paddy cultivation in 3,964 hectares (ha.) belonging to 5,407 farmers has been destroyed. The total loss is estimated at ₹59.42 crore. Apart from the rice cultivation, farmers growing banana, vegetables, tuber crops and so on have suffered losses. The preliminary assessment put the overall crop loss in the district at ₹67.62 crore.
This season, farmers have undertaken rice cultivation in more than 26,000 ha spread across 587 padasekharams in the district, a major portion of which is in Kuttanad.
With rainfall patterns changing in recent years, crop loss is becoming a recurring phenomenon in Kuttanad. Farmers say climate change is making it impossible for them to follow the farming calendar.
"Farmers are supposed to complete the sowing for the puncha season by November. Last year, rain lashed the region in October and November and Puncha crop sowing got hampered. This has resulted in delayed harvest and summer rain damaging the crop. For paddy farming to be profitable, a farmer needs to get a yield of 20 quintals or above per acre. Ever since the 2018 great deluge, this is not happening in many fields due to crop losses," says Mr. Cherian, adding suffering losses year after year is pushing many to debt trap.
Kuttanad farmers are also facing issues like lack of facilities to store harvested paddy and shortage of combine harvesters
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