Baliapal: Cyclonic storm Ampahan has broken the backbone of farmers by destroying standing betel and paddy crops under this block in Balasore district, a report said. The calamity has brought in untold miseries to people who stare at a bleak future.
The destruction was so intense that rabi paddy crops grown on hundreds of acres were floating in knee deep water. Similarly, groundnuts, green grams, black grams grown in seaside fields are rotting after getting drenched in rain water during the cyclone.
Moreover, the gusty wind has flattened over 75 per cent of the betel vines. Betel farmers are now finding it hard to sell betel leaves in local market or in outside market due to the lockdown, betel farmer Ananta Giri said.
They had borrowed money for farming and now they wonder how to repay the loans, another farmer Sibanarayan Barik said. Betel farmers Manoranjan Dey, Jaydev Parmanik and Ganesh Biswal demanded that the state government intervene and give away compensation to betel farmers on the lines of compensation meant for paddy farmers.
Notably, betel cultivation is a major cash crop for scores of farmers in the block who earn handsomely by selling betel in local and outside markets.
Apart from standing crops, the calamity has destroyed houses and properties. Amulya Jena of Langaleswar village has lost properties worth Rs 50,000 after a large tree fell on his house. Purnachandra Jena, another village, is now homeless after his thatched house caved in during the period. He along with his family members has now taken shelter in the school building.
Casuarina tree planted in large tracts of land in seaside Chaumukha, Dagra, Betagadia, Jambhirai and Kashphala villages have got uprooted due to gusty winds during the calamity.
This has come as an opportunity for the timber smugglers who are collecting these uprooting trees and transporting them elsewhere for sale. As a result, the state government is losing revenue worth several lakhs of rupees.
PNN