Nayagarh: Delay in monsoons has affected paddy cultivation and hit farmers hard in this district, sources stated here Thursday. Over 89 per cent of farmlands in the district are yet to be cultivated due to delay in arrival of rains.
Farmers said that these days they are frequently witnessing lightning and thunderstorms, but those are not resulting in sufficient rains. The lack of irrigation facilities are worrying them also as they fear that their livelihoods will be affected.
Farmers informed that some of them have sowed paddy seeds, but that is only on 11 per cent of the farmlands. Kabuli Pradhan of Balugaon village said they are waiting for rains to arrive.
“There has been erratic rainfall last week, but not in a regular manner, which is so essential for paddy cultivation,” he stated. Pradhan said that a few of them had sowed paddy seeds on dry farmlands expecting rains to arrive soon.
“However, it now looks that the seeds have gone to waste,” he said. Other farmers opined that they were expecting rainfall after the ‘Raja’ festival, but that too has not happened, leaving them frustrated. Rabindra Barad of Raipur village under Nuagaon block said many like him are spending sleepless nights due to delay in arrival of monsoons. “Unless it starts raining we cannot cultivate paddy,” he stated.
Abhimanyu Guman Singh of Chakradharprasad village under Bhapur block said that they will incur heavy losses due to the delay in arrival of monsoons. “We don’t know when we can sow the paddy seeds. The delay in monsoonal rains has thrown a spanner in our cultivation plans. We cannot cultivate paddy on dry lands,” he asserted.
His observation was backed by Ganeshwar Mishra of Godipada village under Odagaon block and Gobinda Kahalsingh of Latar village under Ranpur block. “Fear of crop loss is haunting us now,” both said. When contacted, chief district agriculture officer Sanjay Kumar Dalei confirmed the situation.He however, said that paddy seeds are available in stores for farmers. Farmers however, pointed out that there will be no takers for the seeds till the rains arrive.
PNN