PTI
A man carrying bananas at a local market in cyclone-hit India.
Cyclone Phailin has ruined more than 70 per cent of
banana fruit in Bihar’s Vaishali district, the hub of banana cultivation
located north of the Ganga.
Initial reports suggest
that more than 70 per cent of the banana crop has been destroyed due to
Phailin, District Agriculture Officer (DAO) Dinesh Prasad said.
The
DAO said that to assess the actual damage to the cash crop, an order
has been passed on Friday for conducting field wise survey.
The
survey team has been given a week’s time for submission of report after
which decision to pay compensation to farmers would be taken by the
government, he said.
The team comprising of officials
and agriculture experts have been told to take photograph of the fields
raged due to Phailin in the district, he said.
Mr.
Prasad said that the high speed wind that accompanied rains for 48 hours
on Sunday and Monday triggered by Phailin proved deadly for the banana
trees which got uprooted prematurely.
After Brazil, India is the second largest banana producer in the world.
Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal are producers of the fruit.
The banana crop is grown in around 2,000 hectares in the state in districts like Vaishali, Katihar, Kishanganj and Purnia.
The Hajipur “chiniya” variety of banana is very famous in the country and is also exported.
The widespread damage to the banana crop is expected to spike the price of the fruit during the Chhath festival period.
