Last week’s incessant downpour has now left farmers worried as hopes of a bumper paddy crop drowned.
Rains have not only damaged crops but also soil in many parts of South West Khasi Hills district. Complaints of crop damage were reported from villages of Wahtyllang, Tdongkynbah and Photspiar and Mawsaw.
Farmers said rainwater washed away paddy saplings and paddy fields completely eroded.
The Hills Farmers Union (HFU), South West Khasi Hills District led by president, Firmly Iawphniaw visited the affected areas today said that with such large-scale erosion farmers are in dire straits.
“Paddy fields have turned to rivers and nothing that was sowed is left. Hunger awaits farmers as it will take time for them to restore what was lost,” he said.
During this period, farmers would have started weeding, but now there are only cries of uncertainty in farmlands, Iawphniaw added.
The union has urged the government to provide relief for the rain-hit farmers especially to restore their farmlands.
