Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jul 17: Farmers tilling their land at Tekkatte, Kota, and surrounding areas are always bothered by a lurking fear in the back of their minds about the seeds they sow and crops they grow getting destroyed. Helplessness and frustration mark their faces as they worry about the problem of water weeds which crop up during the rainy season every year and occupy every inch of their farmland, a problem that has aggravated in the recent years.

Water weeds which resemble algae have been bothering farmers of Tekkatte, Kota, and nearby villages since many years. Their presence is getting more profound with each passing year, resulting in dwindling farm produce. This problem has been frustrating farmers from villages like Vakwady, Haltoor, Malyadi, Kedoor, Giliyar, Koykoor, Bannadi and others. Farmers from Ultoor, Malyadi and Bannadi near Kota have not been able to find a way out of this nagging problem.

These weeds, which arrive with the water which flows from upper surfaces, have green leaves at the top and fibre-like roots below. No one knows where these weeds take birth, and how they can be decimated.

These weeds flow into the agricultural fields, get accumulated over the water, and prove to be disastrous for the transplanted seedlings. As long as there is water in the fields, these weeds thrive and have the power to destroy crops. During the summer, they get burnt and turn grey but get back into life as soon rainy season arrives.

The heavy downpour of Wednesday and Thursday last brought with it huge quantity of water weeds, because of which the farmers have turned directionless. Shivaram Shetty, a farmer from Malyadi, says that clearing of these weeds which get accumulated in large quantities and saving the crops have been posing a major challenge for the agriculturists of the region.

Villages like Ultoor where water flows in large quantities from upper areas, water weeds get accumulated in huge piles weighing several truckloads. They block flow of water in canals, and therefore, farmlands there now resemble rivulets, as crops stay submerged. The locals have now come together and hired backhoes for disposing off this problematic weed at least temporarily.