Sambalpur: The Sambalpur collector convened a meeting Monday to review the crop damage caused by pest attacks. The meeting was attended by not only officials but also leading farmers and their leaders.
Speaking to OP, he said that it was just a routine meet, where feedback is taken from stake holders, so that higher ups can be updated.
But OP got a different story from Saroj Mohanty, a committed farmer leader and appreciated for his blunt revelations.
He said that an important fact was being deliberately underplayed and that is the fact that age old traditional paddy varieties are successful in resisting pest attacks. There are about 800 farmers in the region who have used traditional seeds, and their paddy has not been attacked by pests.
Mohanty added the yield from traditional seeds may not be as good as from hybrid seeds but they are safe. The traditional crops are unaffected as they are resistant to pests.
Speaking about the meeting, he said that it was a futile attempt by officials to save their skin. He said the steps would have had been useful had it been taken two months ago.
He cited the situation in September and said the pest attacks started then and that many farmers had raised their voice, but were ignored by the administration. The officials completely failed to gauge the seriousness of the situation then.
Mohanty added that at that time there was gross apathy towards farmers in the agriculture department, and none came forward to advice farmers on pesticides. As a result the poor farmers fell prey to fraudulent pesticide peddlers.
He said that if the agricultural officials had acted in time the situation would have been much better now.
Mohanty laughed at the so called emergency steps being taken by the agriculture department against pesticide dealers and the threat to cancel their license. He also blasted the myth that farmers will be given help as per the relief code as the pest attack has been accepted by the government as a natural disaster.
Mohanty said that most affected farmers had taken loans and as the loans are covered by insurance the farmers must get benefits of the premium they paid. He added that the insurance benefit may be more than the so called relief and moreover the farmers are eligible to take both the benefits. But surprisingly no official is disclosing these facts to farmers.
Saroj said there was a ‘pesticide testing laboratory’ established by the agriculture department at Sambalpur. But it has not yet started working, as the government has not appointed personnel to run it. He said that machines worth millions were rusting there. PNN
