Jamankira: Farmers of Badamal panchayat under this block in Sambalpur district are a worried lot as paddy crop spread over vast stretches of land is facing threat from unknown disease.
While, the affected farmers are apprehensive of crop loss, the state agriculture department is said to be oblivious of the disease affecting paddy crop.
Several farmers have complained that paddy panicles are turning black while the leaves are growing yellow prematurely. The paddy plants are wilting due to the onslaught of the disease, they added. The problem was acute in almost all villages under Badamal panchayat and would soon spread to other panchayats, farmers apprehended.
When contacted, agriculture officer Ramesh Chandra Patel suspected that the disease could be ‘Mahisa’ disease. “But, I will confirm it only after a spot visit to the villages,” he added.
Ladropal, Bhalidihi, Badamal, Nuadihi and a couple of other villages of Badamal panchayat are the worst-affected. Although farmers have been spraying pesticide, it has not been effective.
Farmers lamented that they suffered heavy crop loss due to unseasonal rainfall in addition to the strange disease which is spreading, compounding their problems. They sought the intervention of the administration to check the disease from further affecting their paddy crop.
Farmers Gopal Bagarti, Prashant Bagarti, Batu Nayak, Suresh Naik, Nayan Patel and Hrudananda Nayak anticipated that paddy crop over hundreds of acres would be lost this year if immediate remedial measure are not undertaken. However, agriculture officer Patel assured that preventive measures would be taken after a field survey.
PNN