Balasore: Erratic and delayed rainfall has affected paddy crops in Balasore district, pushing farmers to demand the district is declared as drought-affected and the government give away compensation for the damaged crops. They took up the issue with the district administration Friday.
Farmers united under the Bharat Krushak Sabha met Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty and submitted a memorandum to him. Farmers leaders like Kailash Panda, Niranjan Barik, Bhagabat Pratihari, Gourang Panigrahi, Mayadhar Nayak and Jiten Patra discussed farming issues with the Collector and the district agriculture officer.
They pointed out that the district is marked with hills and rivers, but the state government has not made necessary irrigation facilities and dams to boost farming. In the absence of irrigation, farming solely depends on rain water. Over last few years, farming has been affected by floods, drought and erratic rainfall.
In 2012, the district was declared drought-hit while Phailin wreaked havoc on paddy in 2013. Farming had been extensively affected by Hudhud in 2014. Drought also affected farming in 2015 and the government had declared the district as drought-affected.
In 2018, pests played havoc with crops across hectares of farmland in the district while delayed and insufficient rainfall has affected crops in the current year. The economy of the farmers has broken down while they are unable to pay off farm loans, the committee said.
The farmers’ body also lamented that KALIA yojana is being implemented under the influence of the political leaders.
About 70 to 80 per cent of farmland has been left uncultivated in areas like Bahanaga, Nilagiri, Remuna, Balasore Sadar, Basta, Jaleswar, Bhograi and Soro tehsils. They demanded that the district be declared drought-hit while each panchayat be treated as a unit for crop insurance coverage of the affected farmers.
Other demands included provision of input subsidy, new loan disbursal for the kharif season and loan waiver for panchayats that have been suffering from crop loss for the last 10 years.
PNN
