Team Herald
PONDA: The areca-nut farmers in Priol, Marcaim, Ponda and Shiroda say they have suffered heavy losses due to excessive falling of premature nuts.
The farmers say that falling of premature nuts is due to heavy rains. Almost all trees in areca-nut plantations are affected by excessive rain.
“We have no nuts on trees in our bagayat. The ripened areca-nuts are used for Ganesh decoration, as such, we used to earn huge income selling areca-nut bunches this season. We did take measures to prevent falling of premature nuts, but it was of no use. We have no areca-nut to sell during at the Matoli Bazaar,” Tulshidas Naik, a farmer from Bandora, said.
He said that “the agricultural officers should inspect the bagayats to report our losses.” He hoped that government would pay compensation to farmers having areca-nut plantations.
