Chennai
Paddy farmers in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, are demanding compensation after 600 acres of their crops were destroyed by unexpected summer rain. They have also threatened to hold protests if their demands are not met.
In the Chellampatti region alone, 600 acres of paddy were lost, while farmers in Melur and Usilampatti also suffered significant damage. Paddy, a major crop in Madurai, is grown over more than 50,000 hectares across various seasons, including Samba, Kuruvai, and summer.
K.M. Mutharasan, a farmer leader, told sources, My brothers and I cultivated paddy on 9.35 acres, spending around Rs 35,000 per acre. We lost about Rs 3.25 lakh due to the rain. He noted that the crops were just 20 days from harvest when the rain hit.
R. Ramesan, a farmer from Chellampatti, called for the state agricultural department to assess the damage and provide compensation. Kumaresan Thevar, leader of the Madurai district paddy farmer’s welfare association, highlighted the severe losses and the urgency of compensation. If the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Department and state government do not compensate us soon, we will have no choice but to protest, he said, mentioning that many farmers had borrowed money from banks and loan sharks to fund their cultivation.
Tamil Nadu agricultural department officials have stated that block-level officers have been deployed to assess the crop losses in Chellampatti.
