KENDRAPARA: Unseasonal rain over the last three days in the coastal district has poured cold water on the hopes of a large number of farmers who were expecting a bumper paddy yield.
The torrential rain has reportedly affected paddy crops in vast tracts of agriculture fields, leaving the farmers worried. Complaints of crop damage have been pouring in from many villages across the district.
Amit Jena, a farmer of Garapur village on the outskirts of Kendrapara town, said, “We are cursing the bad weather as the rain has damaged our ripe paddy crops. Many farmers tried their best to harvest the rain-soaked crops by holding umbrellas. But the efforts yielded little result.”
Similarly, Ramachandra Parida of Bharatpur village said he was expecting a bountiful harvest this year. He had recently harvested his paddy crop and left it on his threshing floor. But the showers damaged his crops.
Sources said many farmers had left their freshly-cut crops to dry in the fields. Due to the prolonged showers, rainwater entered the fields and damaged the crops.
“The ripe paddy crops are submerged in rainwater. It would start germinating if the rainfall continues. Besides, we will face more losses if rainwater is not drained out from the fields within a week,” rued Jiban Sahoo of Aul.
As the paddy crop is in the harvesting stage, the next two weeks are crucial for farmers. But due to the untimely rain, farmers are worried that the paddy quality will deteriorate drastically with the soaking of harvested crops.
Local farmer leader Umesh Chandra Singh said farmers of the district face crop loss due to unseasonal rain every year, but the administration pays only lip service to their problems. He demanded immediate survey of the crop damage caused by rain and appropriate compensation for affected farmers.
Contacted, chief district agriculture officer Kalyan Kumar Ray said a large number of farmers have already harvested their crops. Those who lost their crops will get assistance from the Agriculture department. “We have directed all the block-level officials to submit reports on crop loss due to untimely rain,” Ray added.
