Bargarh: Kharif farming this year had got delayed in Bargarh district due to erratic rainfall and a shortage of farmhand amid Corana-induced lockdowns. Shortage of fertlisers also has affected the farming.
Braving all odds, farmers have managed to raise paddy in thousands of acres of land, but pest attack on paddy has become a major concern for them in some parts of the district.
Reports said, stem borers and leaf blighting have started affecting paddy plants in some pockets including in Kalapani.
Suresh Nekanti, a farmer of Kalapani, said, “I have cultivated paddy in 10 acres. Now pest attack on the plants has started. It has been a major concern. I had applied pesticide on the farmland. The agriculture department is not providing adequate pesticides to contain pest at this critical time.”
Same is the case with farmer Ekadasia Sahu. He said,” I have farmed paddy in 20 acre. Pests have attacked all plants. This is major problem and we do not know how to save the plants. Despite pesticide being applied, the effort is ineffective.”
The paddy plants have started conceiving now. At this juncture, a variety of diseases has been affecting paddy plants, which have caused great concern for the farmers, it was learnt.
Farmers were disheartened to see the condition of paddy plants – with leaves drooping and blighted.
“If pest attack is not checked, all their efforts and money invested in paddy cultivation will go in vain,” lamented many farmers.
Asked about the problem, district agriculture officer Dinabandhu Gandhi said farmers are being provided pesticide at 50 per cent subsidy. Pesticide required for 200 hectares in each block had been supplied. All the pesticide was delivered to farmers. But the demand for pesticide has gone up. We have intimated the state government to supply more pesticide.”
PNN