Banana, areca nut farmers face crop loss due to heavy showers in Goa

PANAJI: Preliminary reports of the crop loss in Goa revealed that areca nut, banana and some paddy have suffered the brunt of the heavy rainfall last week. As of Friday, 400ha of cultivated areas had been damaged, stated the information shared by the zonal agricultural offices (ZAO) across the state.
Low-lying areas were submerged inundating paddy fields. There was loss to farmers growing bananas due to tree uprooting and areca nut crop due to immature fruit drops.
“Gradually the water has receded from paddy fields, so the crop is likely to survive. The seeds were transplanted weeks ago due to which the crop has been well established in the soil. If the submergence would have continued for four to five days, the crop would have started to rot. However, farmers of fruit bearing trees will incur losses since the crops have broken or the fruit has fallen,” an agriculture official said.
The preliminary report is based on visual inspections by the ZAO officers and the area under crop loss that has been recorded. The details of damage and the amount of compensation due is yet to be tabulated by the directorate of agriculture.
After the extent of damage is established, application forms will be sent out to the ZAOs. Following which, the farmers will be permitted to claim damages and avail of the compensation.
Major losses have been reported from areas such as Pernem and Sattari. This was owing to the intense rainfall activity experienced in these talukas.
“More people are involved in agricultural activities in these talukas. Many of them who stay in remote areas here don’t have an alternative means of livelihood and largely depend on agriculture. We are in the process of assessing the losses faced there,” the official said.