Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/floods-shatter-hopes-of-farmers-dipankar-roy-4676431.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Floods shatter hopes of farmers -Dipankar Roy | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Floods shatter hopes of farmers -Dipankar Roy
-The Telegraph

Mayong (Morigaon): It was just some weeks ago that Jogeswar Bangthai, Ganesh Saikia and Mohammad Anar Ali were dreaming of a bumper crop as they gazed at their fields that had turned golden with the ripe paddy waiting to be harvested.

A few days more and their granaries would brim over. Or so they thought.

Then came the rain that refused to go away.

In this fabled land of black magic, farmers were now under a spell of disaster.

The race to salvage the dream began in earnest as workers were called in to harvest the crop in double quick time as the water level in the paddy fields rose relentlessly.

Drying the paddy is now the foremost activity for the people here.

Small mounds of paddy covered by plastic sheets and tarpaulin, hay and fishing nets lie heaped on every available raised land or in patches where water had not collected.

The covers are taken off every time the sun comes out to allow the paddy to dry.

It is also spread out to dry on the road to Morigaon, headquarters of the district by the same name, from Guwahati, which is about 30km to the west.

The paddy is no longer golden. It is a dark shade of ochre.

"We have lost around 70 per cent of the crop," says Bangthai, his wiry frame resting in a chair by the side of the road that also leads to Pobitora wildlife sanctuary about 4km away.

"The sun has been out more frequently for the past couple of days although it has not stopped raining and some of my paddy has dried," he says, pointing at some mounds on a small field across the road.

Biren Timung is at work on the field winnowing the paddy, aided by the light breeze and the fan of a power tiller. "A lot of paddy has rotted," he says.

About a kilometre away, 25-year-old Anar Ali is also engaged in a similar process. He has cultivated 14 bighas. He has to give away four maunds to the harvesters and seven to the owner of the land for each bigha. "This is the deal for those who cultivate others' land," he says.

"We could never imagine it would come to this. We had a bumper crop this time, but the rain has spoilt much of it," said Saikia.

A bigha would have yielded about 30 maunds of the Boro paddy and about 25kg of rice from each maund, which is equivalent to 40kg.

He agrees with Bangthai's estimate of about a 70 per cent loss. "Had it all gone the way it promised to, we would have been able to pay back the loans we took, but now it will be difficult," he said. "We will also have to buy seeds for the next cropping season since little will be left from the paddy this time," he said.

Large swathes of agricultural land remain submerged in the Mayong revenue circle where, according to official reports, 46 villages and 271 hectares of cropland have been affected.

Across the state, the flooding has affected 359 villages and over 6,500 hectares of crop area in 11 of the 26 districts.

Bangthai claims he is 100 years old, although events he recollects when he was "in school" and like the 1950 earthquake would more likely put him in the 70-plus age group. Another event he remembers is the flood of "1962 or 1963 when everything here went under water".

"After that one, this is the worst," he says.

And the monsoon is far from over.