Rain hits 50,000kg of St Estevam’s harvest

Panaji: The struggle to cope with extreme weather appears to be never-ending for farmers in Goa, especially for the community farm in St Estevam. Merely days after their farms were ravaged due to heavy showers, Saturday rain wet their paddy harvest that had been laid out for drying.
TOI had reported on November 12 that inundated fields in August, followed by torrential rain in October had ruined most of their crop.Now, from the harvested 10% which accounts for 50,000 kg of grain, the farmers are set to lose about 5,000 kg.
“There was bright sunshine through the day so we didn’t anticipate the rain. During the 15-minute heavy showers, only a couple of workers were in the fields. There was a huge quantity of rice laid out and they couldn’t manage to cover it all in time. A lot of the paddy got wet, as a result,” said president of the Ilha Verde Farmers’ Club, Nestor Rangel.
The farmers were supposed to start the process of winnowing on Sunday. However, most of the 50,000 kg of grain which was soaked in rainwater, has been put out for drying again, and farmers are optimistic about salvaging the harvest.
“We will not be using any electric dryers. We are hiring ten more labourers to work around the clock and ensure that the grain is thoroughly well-dried in the sun. Despite this, we estimate a loss of about 10% of the grain,” Rangel said.
Following the drying of the grain, its winnowing will be undertaken. Until then, the farmers have kept their fingers crossed over this venture which has thus far proved to be rather non-lucrative. “Every month, we are faced with yet another rain disaster. We are now only working on drying the crop to recover the grain,” he added.
In what could be considered Goa’s first community farming project, agriculturists in the island village had successfully grown organic brown rice, last season. Sowing paddy across 10 lakh sqm of land this season, the farmers were hoping to replicate the previous year’s success.
However, they reported 90% crop loss owing to inundated fields in August, followed by torrential rain in October.
The rain on Saturday was attributed to a cyclonic circulation over North Kerala and adjoining areas by Indian Metereological Department.