V Pandian, a vegetable grower at Ketti Pallada in the Nilgiris, recalled the wild buffalo intrusion on his farmland around mid-March. “A herd of 30 or so wild buffaloes trampled on the half-acre plot in which carrot shoots had started to show up, destroying the crop completely. I just gave up,” he said.

The sleepy hamlet, located 15 km from Coonoor, has become the haunting ground for wild buffaloes. “Hang around till 4 pm, and you can sight them,” the villagers told this correspondent.

While there were tales of such damage to carrot and potato crops, some farmers did manage to bring the produce to the Lawrencedale Estates and Farms (LEAF) Aggregation centre at Ketti Pallada.

There were loads and loads of carrot waiting to be cleaned, washed and graded before LEAF could weigh the produce and pay the farmer his due.

B Sadguru, who supervised the arrivals, said there was a drastic drop as the area under carrots in that belt had collapsed from 200 acres to a mere 15 acres.

“Farmers are reluctant to raise vegetable crops as there is no rain. We are offering to pay the grower ₹45/ kilo of carrot; our requirement is a minimum of 20 tonnes/day, we are struggling to get 4 tonnes/day,” the supervisor said.

Further away at Emerald, it was worse. The valley, which is usually lush green, now has more brown patches.

“We are dependent on the rain. Emerald Dam is drying. Many farmers have returned to the plains to eke out a living,” said Prakash, a youngster from Chennai, who had moved there about five years back.

“Most of us are tenant farmers. And this time, it is not just the rain god who has been harsh on us; the impact of demonetisation too hit most of us hard.”

“We got a good yield of beetroot, cabbage and some exotic vegetables such as lettuce and broccoli around November–December last. But we could not pay the labourers as we faced a huge shortage of cash,” Prakash recalled.

“Traders from Mettupalayam mandi offered to harvest and take the produce to be sold at the market downhill and it suited us. It is three months, they are yet to settle our dues,” he added.

“We are not in a position to cultivate, as we do not have money for rotation and banks do not extend finance support as we are tenant farmers and not landlords,” Prakash explained, highlighting the plight of the growers in the hill district.

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