Climate change-spurred unseasonal rain has dashed Vipin Vijayakumar's dreams of striking gold cultivating paddy at his village in Thakazhi in Kuttanad.
COVID-19 had cost Vijayakumar his job as an aircraft maintenance engineer in Kuwait in 2020. On his return, Vijayakumar and three friends leased a vast expanse of arable wetland (375 acres) to cultivate rice. However, disaster struck twice. Floods washed away a sizeable part of the harvest in September 2021. Unforeseeable intense summer rain dealt Vijayakumar's prospects as a paddy cultivator a death blow in April this year.
"We invested ₹80 lakh to turn the wetland into a lush rice field. Rain struck on the eve of the harvest season. I have to seek a job in the Gulf to redeem the debt", he told The Hindu.
