By Amir Tantray

Jammu: The recent floods in Jammu and Kashmir have caused a huge loss to the agriculture sector in the union territory hitting an estimated 140 lakh hectares of agriculture land across 10 districts of Jammu province, a top official said.

The damage has been caused to both irrigated and rain fed areas as the rain furry gripped all the 10 districts of the region over the past few weeks.

Top Agriculture Officer Assesses Damage
Talking to ETV Bharat, Director Agriculture Jammu, Anil Gupta said that although the Agriculture Department along with the Revenue Department was still in the process of damage assessment, an estimated 140 lakh hectares of the agricultural land has been affected by the floods in Jammu region.

Out of the 140 lakh hectares, around 91 lakh hectares of land has suffered a damage of over 33 percent which included erosion of land in rain fed areas and areas alongside rivers and streams which were flooded with a huge volume of water, Gupta added.

Standing Kharif Crops Hit Hard
Jammu province has mostly two kharif crops which include paddy and maize. Plains of Jammu region including Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts mostly have paddy crops, while other districts have both paddy and maize crops which have been affected by the floods. Jammu district is also famous for the world’s best Basmati rice with floods wreaking havoc on the Basmati fields as well.

The rice belts of Pargwal, Marh, R S Pura, Suchetgarh and Bishnah of Jammu district witnessed the floods and with many areas alongside the 198-km-long Indo-Pak international still submerged.

J&K Govt Announces Relief Measures
The Jammu and Kashmir government has come to the rescue of farmers and will provide relief to them under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) under the established guidelines and rules.

Director Agriculture Gupta said that for every hectare of land in rain fed areas, Rs 8500 will be given to the farmers and for irrigated land Rs 17000 per hectare will be given as compensation. The government has earmarked Rs 133 crore for the compensation.

Damage To Paddy Lands In Kashmir
In Kashmir valley, floods caused by swollen Jhelum river early this month inundated parts of south Kashmir and caused vast damage to standing paddy crop, which the farmers were preparing to harvest.