News
Kalpitiya, Badulla farmers utterly devastated by the floods
View(s):By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe and K.R. Rajamanthri
Fruits and vegetables cultivated by farmers of Kalpitiya have been destroyed due to the heavy downpours and the devastating floods.
According to the farmers, 15000 acres of cultivated land have been destroyed, causing millions of Rupees’ worth of damages.
The farmers pointed out that though they experienced several floods this year, this was the most virulent, the floodwaters sweeping away all their farmlands.
Karamba, Sathepola, Nirmalapula, Nawakkaduwa, Norochchole, Thalawila, Kandakuliya and Kalpitiya were among the areas inundated.
Vegetable Farmer Kapila Sanjeewa Fernando told the Sunday Times that the farmers of Kalpitiya are utterly helpless, having faced floods of a scale greater than any encountered before.
He said that they are unable to return to normalcy immediately and called the government or any other party to help them.
A farmers in Badulla (top) and and farmer in Puttalam (bottom) assessing the damage caused to their crop
by the weather disaster. Pix by Pix Walimada Rajamanthri and Hiran Priyankara
NPP Member of the Kalpitiya Pradeshiya Sabaha, Nishantha Maximas said that no one could have imagined the extent of the rains which completely destroyed farmlands.
He said that while Kalpitiya farmers were a community that did not usually call for support from the government, “if seeds and fertilizer are provided through some relief mechanism it would help the farmers”.
Meanwhile the vegetable Farmers of Badulla too called for fair compensation for their damaged crops. They said that they had invested more than usual on farming this season, expecting the demand for vegetables to escalate with approaching festivities.
The farmers also lamented that the harvest of vegetable crops which survived the adverse situation cannot be sold for high prices. They appealed to the government for full compensation for the damages they have suffered.
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