According to a rough estimate made by the state agriculture department, paddy in about 6000 acres, in various stages of harvest, has been ravaged in the state's Alapuzha district. Crop loss and breach of bund are turning out to be a common menace in these region, sources said.

Because of acute shortage of agricultural workers, the harvesting pace had also been very slow. The uninvited rains hit the harvesting at its threshing end, not only delaying the operations, but also drenching the crop.

Rice mill agents have so far offered only Rs 350 per quintal for the soaked crop, which, according to farmers, were produced on cost of Rs 650 per quintal. The hay, expected to fetch Rs 300 per acre, is almost completly wasted, sources said.

In Kerala, most of thethreshing operations is done on rented machine. This time, with the crop too wet, to facilitate machine-threshing the operations have become more time-consuming and thereby more expensive. The delay is four-fold. Although the machine rentals are not on time units, the machine owners are out to hike the rates.

Since wet paddy burns more diesel, the machine-owners have been negotitating for atleast 50 per cent increase in rentals. A farmer's average gleanings from the Kuttanad fields is around 23 quintals of paddy from an acre under normal circumstances. After the havoc caused by the downpour, it would be fortunate if he got atleast ten quintals, sources said.

The State Warehousing Corporation had recently announced its intention to procure paddy. According to the farmers, one of the reasons for the unstable price is the failure of the procurement programme as in the last year. The announcement that 25,000 tonnes of paddy would be procured for Rs 725 per quintal is yet to translate to reality. With nogovernment takers, the farmers are largely victims of the cartel of mil owners.