Budgam, Sep 14: Farmers from several villages of Beerwah tehsil in Budgam district have urged the government to provide adequate compensation to all farmers whose standing paddy and vegetable crops were extensively damaged in the recent hailstorm.
The affected farmers said the hailstorm caused widespread damage to agricultural fields in Chewdara, Beerwah, Ohangam, Arwah, Rathsun and other adjoining villages, leaving many families worried about their livelihood as the paddy harvesting season was approaching.
According to the farmers, the damage has occurred at a time when they had already invested substantial amounts of money and labour in preparing their fields and cultivating the crops. With the standing paddy crop damaged just days before the expected harvest, farmers fear heavy financial losses.
Bilal Ahmad Mir, a local farmer, said the hailstorm had caused extensive damage to paddy fields in several villages of Beerwah tehsil.
“The Agriculture Department officials have also visited the affected paddy fields and taken photographs of the damaged crops. There are a large number of farmers who have suffered losses because they had not insured their crops under the crop insurance scheme,” Mir said.
He said many farmers, particularly those from rural and economically weaker backgrounds, were not aware of the importance and benefits of crop insurance.
“There are many farmers who are illiterate and did not know what crop insurance meant. They therefore could not insure their crops. Now their entire crop has been damaged, and they have no financial protection,” he said.
Mir appealed to the government to consider the plight of all affected farmers and provide them with proper compensation, irrespective of whether they had insured their crops.
“We have spent a huge amount of money on our agricultural land. We were preparing to harvest the paddy within a few days, but the crop has been completely damaged before the harvest. If the government does not provide proper compensation to the affected farmers, especially those who could not insure their crops, many families will face serious difficulties,” he said.
The farmer said agricultural households had already been facing increasing costs of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, labour and other inputs, making the loss of a standing crop particularly difficult to absorb.
Another farmer, Ishfaq Ahmad Rather of Chewdara village, said paddy fields as well as vegetable gardens in different villages had suffered huge losses due to the hailstorm.
Farmers said that besides paddy, vegetable cultivation had also suffered significant damage in the affected areas. They said the destruction of vegetable gardens had further increased the financial burden on farming families, who now have to purchase vegetables from markets despite having invested money in their own fields.
The farmers have appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to personally intervene in the matter and ensure that all affected farmers receive timely and adequate compensation.
They also urged the concerned departments to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the losses in all affected villages so that no farmer is left out of the relief process.
Earlier, Director Agriculture Kashmir Sartaj Ahmad Shah said that farmers who had insured their maize and paddy crops would receive compensation under the crop insurance scheme as per the applicable provisions.
