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Welimada farmers want urgent relief as weather hits vegetable crops
View(s):Pix and text by K.R.Rajamanthri
Heavy rains in the Welimada and Uva Paranagama areas have damaged potato and other vegetable cultivations, leading to financial hardship for farmers.
They also warned that the situation could lead to a shortage of vegetables in the market.
Due to the persistent rain, fungal diseases have spread rapidly among crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cabbages, and leeks. Farmers fear they will not be able to obtain the expected harvest.
Chamara Prasad
They say they have been forced to spend la lot of money on chemical fungicides to control these fungal infections. In addition, due to the continuously wet weather and soil moisture, a portion of the harvested potatoes has begun to rot.
Farmers explain that in previous years during similar rainy seasons they were able to minimise such damage by applying fungicides, chemical treatments, and fertilisers. However, at present, they have serious doubts about the quality and standard of the available products.
Borlanda Farmers’ Association chairman K.M. Chamara Prasad said that the heavy evening rains experienced over the past several days in the Welimada highlands have severely affected vegetable cultivations.
He further explained that since the market price of potatoes had dropped recently some farmers had held on to their harvests in hope that the prices would rise again. However, the heavy rainfall has caused those stored potatoes to rot, plunging those farmers into greater hardship.
In addition to these crop losses, the falling wholesale prices of vegetables have left farmers struggling to recover their costs, placing them in an extremely vulnerable position.
He urged relevant authorities to take prompt action to provide some relief to the farmers who have been severely affected.
Gone with the rains: Farmers in despair as vegetable cultivations are destroyed
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