Heavy Sept showers hit Canacona vegetable crops, farmers worried

POINGUINIM: Heavy rain in September has nearly washed away the hard work put in by the farmers of Canacona taluka.
Those with huge vegetables farms are most worried as the crop has started showing signs of spoiling.
Prasad Velip, who grew ladyfingers and other vegetables on around 30,000sqm at Cotigao, and Sachin Naik from Poinguinim with 4,000sqm under cucumber cultivation, are fearing the worst.
“I borrowed money to raise this crop and was expecting a good yield, but as one can see, my plantation is destroyed by the rain. Like me, there are so many other farmers who have borrowed money in the hope of tiding through these pandemic times. We can see our hopes getting shattered,” Naik told TOI.
“Such unusual heavy rain is very detrimental to paddy as well as vegetable crops, resulting in a low yield,” assistant director of agriculture Chandrahas Desai told TOI.
He said heavy rain during the flowering stage, especially for crops cultivated on hills, is bound to prove detrimental.