More than 80,000 Hectares of Crops Damaged by Unseasonal Rains in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram District

The Central Inter-Ministerial Committee, which came to Tamil Nadu has thoroughly inspected damaged crops in the district of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu. 

Presenting the report, district administration officials said that the district's average normal annual rainfall for January was 48.50 mm. The unseasonal rains accounted for 248.74 mm. Because of the widespread rains last month, many low-lying areas were flooded they said and added that while attempts were made, it was not possible for different reasons to remove the water from the fields. As a result, the crops were completely ruined, including paddy, chillies and small grains. 

The officials said that the district survey set the loss at 87,596 hectares, including 79,210 hectares of paddy, 1,297 hectares of oil seeds, and 4,059 hectares of small grains, among others. Farmers were affected in Kazhugu Oorani, Kuyavankudi, Mandapam , Tiruvadanai village of Karkaathakudi and other valleys. 

Asutosh Agnihotri, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr. Manokaran, Director of Oil Seeds, Ministry of Agriculture, Mahesh Kumar, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Chinna Samy of the Ministry of Rural Development were among the Central Government officials. 

District Revenue Officer A. Sivakami, Sub-Collector N. O. Sugaputra, Joint Director (Agriculture) S. S., D. Jaganathan TN Disaster Management Commissioner, S. Sheik Abdullah and others joined them. 

The officials engaged with the farmers in several villages about the rain last month and the damages they had suffered. The farmers have submitted petitions demanding compensation and infrastructural facilities that in the future will protect their crops.