Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Nov 5: Scores of farmers in the Kakapora belt of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district are yet to harvest their paddy crop this season – not because they don’t want to, but because the entire yield was destroyed in the September floods and is now lying rotten in water-logged fields.
Farmers said that almost two months have passed since the floods, yet large portions of agricultural land in Kakapora are still submerged.
“We haven’t even been able to step into our fields. The paddy has turned black and rotten. There is no point in cutting it now as it is totally useless,” said Abdul Rashid, a farmer from Kakapora.
Farmers said they were hoping that the government would announce a “realistic” compensation package to help them recover from the heavy losses. However, many alleged that the relief being given is extremely inadequate.
“Some of our neighbours have received just around Rs 800 per kanal. What will we do with that? This amount cannot even cover our fertiliser cost, let alone labour and other expenses,” said another farmer, Shabir Ahmad.
He added that the paddy crop takes months of labour, irrigation, and inputs — and now everything has gone to waste.
Most of the affected farmers said they have not received even a single rupee so far. “We spent thousands of rupees on seed, pesticides and labour. The entire harvest is gone… If the government really wants to save farmers from collapse, it must revise the compensation and release it at the earliest,” said Ghulam Nabi, another farmer.
Farmers said they depend on the income from the crop to sustain their households for several months, and inadequate compensation will leave families financially broken.
They appealed to the government to conduct a fresh assessment of losses and ensure that compensation is meaningful. “Compensation should at least match the expenses of a full paddy cycle. Anything less is like adding salt to our wounds,” they said.
Farmers in Kakapora urged the district administration to personally visit the affected sites so that the ground reality can be understood “with eyes, not through papers.”
They have sought the attention of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Agriculture Minister Javed Ahmad Dar in this regard.
