Nisarga, Locusts Damage Crops in MP: Farmers Look at Govt for Help

‘Waited for 4-5 days to sell my crops before they perished,’ says a distressed MP farmer. Who is responsible?

Thousands of quintals of crops rotted due to rain caused by Cyclone Nisarga in Madhya Pradesh

(Photo: The Quint)

Thousands of quintals of crops rotted due to rain caused by Cyclone Nisarga in Madhya Pradesh. The rains, along with the pre-existing locust problem led farmers to incur heavy losses. The Quint reached ground zero to find out how the framers are dealing with the situation.

Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel said, “We will buy the crops from the farmers, we have tried to save farmers from incurring any losses.”

Heavy rains caused crops stored in the open to rot while the administration did not take any measures to securely store them.

Some farmers allege they waited at the mandis for five days to sell their crops before the wet spell.

“I had 40 quintals of gram. I was waiting since four to five days to sell my crop, but due to the rain my produce perished. We still do not know how long the government will take to buy the crops... Farmers are the ones who will have to pay for all the damaged crops... We trust the government but the local administration never came to pick up the crops.”

Santosh Kumar Patel, Farmer

Now, the farmers face the dilemma of whether to wait and sell the crops or take them back home.

Another distressed farmer said, “We have been waiting here for four to five days now. The crops could not be weighed for so many days and now due to rain, they have rotten... The tractors that brought the crops here left... we were confident of selling all the produce.”

After getting to know the farmers’ woes, The Quint spoke to the Collector of Damoh district, Tarun Rathi, to know how the administration is handling the crisis.

“We have appointed an ADM committee and we will investigate the matter based on their report... We will decide on a new place where the crops can be taken to and bought at.”

Tarun Rathi, Collector, Damoh

The Congress staged a chakka jam demanding the faster buying of crops by the government.

Damoh Congress MLA Rahul Singh said, “After a meeting with the collector, we have been promised that the matter will be resolved within a week.”