Goa, June 16 -- SHASHWAT GUPTA RAY

While monsoon showers remain elusive, Goan farmers and agri cultural experts fear that a combination of delayed rains and the threat of late-season flooding could cause significant damage to the local paddy harvest. Namita Namdeo Khan deparkar, a farmer from Chorao, along with fellow farmers from the area, has tilled her fields and kept paddy seedlings ready for sowing. But there is no wa ter in the fields due to the lack of rain. "There are many pad dy fields here. By now, we should have started trans planting the paddy seed lings. But there has been no rain, leaving our fields dry. We have already lost 15 days of this year's Kharif season, and there is still no sign of rain.

Moreover, we don't have a...