Heavy rains and strong winds early this week damaged the standing crop of potatoes in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad.
Farmers said that the crop was almost ready for harvest, but waterlogging in the fields due to heavy rains damaged it.
Pyarelal, a farmer from Kalyanpur village in Moradabad, said, "We had cultivated potatoes on 1.5 acres of land but due to incessant rains for the past two days which caused waterlogging in the fields, the crop got damaged. We have incurred a loss of at least Rs 50,000. We are planting it again. The government should help us."
Sevaram, another farmer, told ANI, "I had borrowed money to cultivate potatoes on 18-19 bighas (4 acres) of land. But due to waterlogging in the fields, the crop has been damaged."
Shyam Gupta, Deputy Director of Horticultural Department, said, "Due to heavy rains in the past two days, almost 15-20 per cent of the crop was damaged. The department is assessing the loss due to heavy rains."
Gupta said the potatoes are grown on 22,300 hectares of land and 6,69,000 MT of potatoes are cultivated in the district.
( With inputs from ANI )
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