Lanka farmers face daunting task of replanting after cyclone

Mud and sand have swamped a rice crop across Kalanchi Dewage Risman’s two-acre (0.8-hectare) tract that had just been starting to show green shoots when Cyclone Ditwah ripped through Sri Lanka.

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“I have to clear out the mud, level out the field, and then plant again,” said Risman, 55, who earns his livelihood from rice farming, along with his wife and two sons, but faces the prospect of going even deeper into debt to make a recovery.

“It’s already mid-December and rice planted this late won’t provide a good harvest.”

Replanting is a daunting task after Ditwah flooded crops across 535,000 hectares (1.3 million acres), while government data shows more than 120,000 hectares (297,000 acres) have been completely washed away or buried under mud and sand.

Ditwah hit key growing regions for rice, vegetables and maize farmed by nearly 1.8 million families when it scythed through the island of 22 million in November, killing 643 people and sending more than 70,000 into relief centres.

Just a fortnight before, nearly 800,000 farmers had cultivated 563,950 hectares (1.4 million acres) of paddy in the main growing season from November to February, United Nations estimates show.