Continuous rain over the past few days has almost destroyed the monsoon crops in various regions of Gujarat. The growers there have not only lost money spent on seeds, fertilisers etc; their efforts for the past two months will literally be wasted as they will have little or no harvest. Continuous rainfall has already damaged some crops by 60 per cent.
One Porbandar district farmer said: "Farmers in our region take monsoon crops of groundnut and cotton, others grow pulses and sesame seeds, while some plant cattle feed. All crops have been washed away due to rains. The heavy rains between 6 and 9 inches in the region over the weekend has actually spelt doom. Waterlogged farms for days together have adversely affected the crops."
Ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.com quoted Sagar Rabari, president of the Khedut Samaj, as saying: "As there was early rain in Saurashtra, farmers in North Gujarat did sowing of crops. But it got spoiled due to late rain and no storage of water. Farmers who have farms at a height from mean sea level are less affected. Other farmers have lost 60 per cent of crops."