Farmers who had raised paddy crops in rain-fed areas in this arid district, hoping for good northeast monsoon, suffered huge loss as the monsoon failed for the second successive year and crops on more than one lakh hectares withered for want of water this season. Having suffered 100% loss during 2016-17 due to failure of north east monsoon, the farmers tried their luck this year only to suffer a double blow as the monsoon, after a sluggish start late in October brought only scattered rainfall, much to the agony of the farmers.