Heavy rains coupled with the cyclone Ditwah that lashed across the country for nearly a week wreaking havoc to life, livelihoods and properties have cost an arm and a leg to the affected families and the economy.
Flash floods that swept across all districts are estimated to have destroyed around 600,000 acres of rice and vegetable crops, raising concerns over a shortage of vegetable in the coming days and sharp surge in prices of many commodities in the run up to the festive season.
National Farmers’ Union Chairman Anuradha Tennakoon said last week that the Eastern Province has been the most affected, with a large extent badly damaged, while vegetable crops in the Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts had been hit badly by the inclement weather.
According to weather reports from the Meteorology Department and the Disaster Management Centre, heavy rainfall, flood waters and landslides had disrupt daily lives of many across multiple districts.
Sandya and Sumanasiri Siriwardena, a farming family in Anuradhapura, said that their cultivations were completely destroyed by the floods as paddy fields were inundated with water for days leaving them now in the lurch, having no means to depend on five mouths ahead. “We hope that all those suffering from the adverse weather will receive adequate compensation for the loss of crop,” Sandya Siriwardena said. Global and local agriculture experts have been saying that promoting the use of drought-resistant, flood-tolerant, and heat-tolerant crop varieties (including traditional local types) reduces vulnerability to extreme weather events.
Diversifying crops and practising intercropping also mitigates risk compared to monoculture farming.