Rain haunts Canacona farmers

PANAJI/CANACONA: Heavy rains in isolated areas and brief spells in other places caused havoc, mostly in the form of damage to property, in some areas on Saturday.
A huge branch of a mango tree crashed onto a high tension line at Verem, knocking the power off. Fire services personnel from the Pilerne station took several hours to clear the debris.
Gusty winds blew off the tiles of several houses in coastal areas of Canacona, while many coconut trees were also uprooted.Many families suffered losses, Saplesh Desai, panch of Agonda village Panchyat said.
Puno Gaonkar, a farmer from Asali, Canacona, said, "It is harvest time for the paddy cultivators and we didn't expect so much rain at this time of the year."
Some paddy fields are still at the flowering stage at Poinginium and the rains over the last week have caused some damage to the crops. "If it continues like this, the crop will suffer further damage and all our hard work will go in vain," rued Gaonkar.
Canacona zonal agricultural officer (ZAO) Rajesh Desai said the rains are very much favourable for banana and pineapple plantations, coconut farms and still more favourable for Canacona's famous chilly plantation. The total seasonal rainfall edged closer to the 100-inch mark, as Met centre, Altinho, recorded 2,498.3mm (98.35 inch) till Saturday morning. tnn