Storms damage banana, maize crops in Sunsari

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT Inaruwa, May 1: Due to strong winds on Friday night, banana and maize crops have been severely damaged in the southern part including Inaruwa Municipality of Sunsari district.

The dry winds have destroyed banana and maize crops planted in various villages including the district headquarters Inaruwa.

Israel Miya, a farmer of Inaruwa Municipality-10, Jalpapur, said that the banana, vegetable and maize crops planted by the farmers in the villages, including Dumraha, Madhesa, Chandbela, Babiya and Balaha of Inaruwa have been destroyed.

Miya said that the maize crop planted in his 15 bighas of land was destroyed by strong winds.

Miya said that not only his own but also hundreds of other farmers in the village had their banana, vegetable and maize crops destroyed by the storm.

Another farmer Resham Kumar Sharma also said that winds damaged maize and other crops planted in his two bighas of land. According to local Siyaram Yadav, farmer Jaslal Yadav of Inaruwa-9 Babiya has lost hundreds of thousands of rupees due to damage to his 10 kattha banana farm.

The banana crop of the same place, including Yadunandan Yadav, Rajesh Mehata, Budhnarayan Mehata and Upendra Yadav has also been damaged.

Similarly, local farmer Bal Ram Yadav said that the farmers in different wards of Inaruwa Municipality were affected when the strong winds destroyed the maize crop.

According to the locals, maize, banana and other vegetable crops have been damaged in about 1,000 areas of more than a dozen villages, including Duhabi, Ramdhuni, Barju, Koshi, Bhokraha Narasimgha, Harinagar and Dewanganj of the district.

The actual details of damage have not been disclosed as the Agriculture Knowledge Centre has been closed Saturday and the farmers have only complained about the damage over the phone. The storm has damaged the roofs of more than a dozen houses in Gadhi Rural Municipality-3 and 4.

Farmers are seriously worried after maize, banana and vegetable crops were destroyed due to strong winds, said Sultan Miya, the outgoing ward chairman of Inaruwa Municipality-10.

At a time when the government has not provided relief to the flood victims so far, the farmers have faced a huge loss again due to damage to crops by winds, he said. He said that farmers could be affected if quick relief was not provided to the victims.

Bhubaneswor Yadav of the agriculture branch of Harinagar Rural Municipality said that the maize and creepers of the farmers were severely damaged due to the strong winds.

He said that all the details have yet to be collected.

Similarly, Renuka Chaudhary, chief of agriculture branch of Bhokraha Narasimha Rural Municipality, said that the farmers were affected due to the destruction of their crops, including maize and vegetables.