Surat, Gujarat: Sugarcane and other crops grown in South Gujarat is severely damaged due to continuous heavy rainfall. The region, which is known for its sugarcane farming, has been hit hard by four months of heavy rain.
Sugarcane is grown on approximately 1.20 lakh hectares in South Gujarat. “The rain started on June 22 and hasn’t let up for four months. It’s causing major crop damage in many areas, and it feels like a ‘leelo dukaal’,” said a local farmer, Jayesh Patel.
“Sugarcane plantation was done on about 1.20 lakh hectares and it is ready for harvesting, but due to water pooling in fields, the harvest got pushed back. On around 20,000 hectares, fresh sugarcane plantation was done of which around 6,000 hectares were damaged by the rain,” added Patel, who is also a leader of farmers, reported The Times of India.
Forty teams from the agriculture department are currently conducting surveys across South Gujarat to assess the damage. Based on their findings, relief measures are expected to be announced.
Darshan Naik, secretary of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, estimated that farmers in South Gujarat have suffered losses worth around Rs 150 crore due to the unrelenting rain. “The worst affected are paddy and sugarcane farmers as these crops are cultivated across South Gujarat. The govt should carry out the assessment of loss quickly and announce relief measures,” said Naik.
Naik has written to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, urging the government to implement relief measures for the affected farmers as soon as possible.
