By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala Wednesday announced a compensation of Rs.10,000 per hectare to all paddy farmers who lost their crop during the rains that lashed the state earlier this month.
The area damaged has been assessed at 28,233 hectares affecting 40,826 farmers, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan told reporters here after the weekly cabinet meeting.
“17,000 hectares of paddy has been completely destroyed and for this we will give Rs.10,000 per hectare and for those farmers who have lost a portion of their crop, we would compensate them proportionately,” Achuthanandan said.
The worst hit districts include Alappuzha, Thrissur, parts of Kottayam and Kozhikode.
“Around 1.4 lakh (140,000) tonnes of paddy has been lost and we have asked the respective district collectors to assess the damage caused to other crops like cashew, areca nut and pepper,” the chief minister added.
Last week, several political leaders of the state had travelled to New Delhi to seek central relief for the affected farmers. A team of officials is expected to arrive from the capital soon to assess the damage.