Kendrapara: Cultivation of sugarcane, a cash crop, is on the wane in this district due to lack of mandis, irrigation facilities and sugar mills, said sources.
Earlier, sugarcane cultivation was carried out in more than 15,000 hectare but this year it has come down to less than 1,000 hectare.
Similarly, a research centre which had earned a name for promoting jute cultivation in the district is now lying defunct. This has happened because of absence of proper water management policy, lack of mandis and failure in river linking for irrigation.
As a result, farmers cultivating cash crops like pigeon pea (arhar) and sunflower are facing difficulties in carrying out farming.
Senior citizens have claimed that empowering the farmers with modern agricultural practices and construction of a large canal by linking it with major rivers in remote areas can solve the water crisis.
Akshaya Behera, a sugarcane farmer of Pattamundai, said that farmers in Garadpur, Marshaghai, Derabish, Pattamundai, Aul and Rajkanika block used to cultivate sugarcane in over 15,000 hectare of land 10 years back as a sugarcane mill at Krushnadaspur was functioning.
However, the closure of the mill, and lack of water and marketing facilities have hit the sugarcane farming. Niranjan Parida, a farmer of Kansar village under Kendrapara block, said it is now increasingly becoming difficult to depend solely on cultivation for livelihood.
He is now cultivating pigeon pea and sunflower on 15 acre of land. However, this year he will not be able to take up the cultivation due to rise in labour costs and lack of irrigation facilities. His two sons have migrated to Surat for livelihood as they failed to earn a living from agriculture.
Farmer leader Duryodhan Sahu said that the Centre’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat slogan and the promise of the state government to take special care of agriculture in Kendrapara district have turned into eyewash.
The canals have not been dredged for the last 25 years for which farmers are finding it difficult to drain out the water from farmlands during paddy cultivation.
The state government should promote sugarcane cultivation as there is an annual requirement of 2.21 lakh MT sugar in the state, he said.
Sugarcane cultivation is declining in the district while sugar mills have been closed in most of the places. Mir Abbu Obeda, a person with fair knowledge of sugarcane farming, said linking of rivers in remote areas can solve the problem to a great extent.
Surya Narayan Mishra, senior scientist of Krushi Vigyan Kendra at Jajanga, said Kendrapara district is situated in natural calamity zone.
The district receives proper rainfall but has got four types of soil for which stress is being laid on integrated farming.
Farmers are being advised to take alternative farming like vegetable, fruit, mushroom, turmeric, medicinal plants as well as goat farming, fishery and poultry to boost earnings.
Horticulture officer Kanda Jena said regular training programmes on latest technological interventions are being organised for the farmers but lack of marketing facilities has posed a serious problem to sugarcane cultivation.
PNN
