Strong Winds struck standing Banana trees in Pettavaithalai area

A Banana plantation that faced the sudden gale at Sirugamani.

The strong wind that struck Pettavaithalai area for about an hour on 24, April Wednesday evening destroyed several hundreds of banana trees in plantations along Perugmani –Pettavaithlai road, causing a heavy loss to farmers. Banana crop in more than 300 acres was damaged by this strong. Helpless farmers could be seen salvaging stunted bunches from the fallen trees and transporting them to Kerala and Trichy for disposal at throwaway prices. They were proceeding to the market with an apprehension that there would be no takers in a situation of glut of unripe fruits. The panic selling was caused by the fear that unripe fruits might go waste within a couple of days. Ravi, a farmer of S.Pudukottai mentioned that after spending nearly Rs. 45,000 an acre, he is pushed to a predicament of remaining content with a return of only one-fourth of what he expected only days before the wind struck. It was the situation for several farmers of surrounding villages those cultivated bananas such as Nendran, Rani Poovan etc.Though many a farmer had spent thousands of rupees for propping the banana trees with   poles during fruiting for support against strong wind, they found to their dismay that the protection could not withstand the sheer force of the gale. Many farmers took up banana cultivation by getting crop loans. The farmers cultivated banana as it fetched a good income. But the strong wind caused huge damage to the crop.-Govin