Balichandrapur: The jute farmers of riparian areas of Birupa, Genguti and Kelua rivers under Barchana Assembly constituency in Jajpur district are starting at an uncertain future as they are constantly being deprived of government support.
According to the aggrieved farmers, jute was cultivated in thousands of hectares in these areas and it helped improve the financial condition of the farmers.
Then, thousands of quintals of jute were shifted to the business points in Dhanmandal, Panchupandab and Kendupatna areas. And from there, they would be transported to states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as the jute grown here was in high demand in those states.
With the passage of time, the jute farming took a beating as the government did not come up with any agricultural law, leading to malfunction of jute cooperative societies and the closure of Dhanmandal jute mill, the only jute mill in Odisha.
These factors started taking their toll on the farming and jute farmers turned their faces away from jute farming by 2000.
As of now, a handful of farmers in villages like Anaka, Manduka, Kolangiri, Raipur and Ramdaspur under Barchana block and Talua and Majhipada villages of Saudia panchayat have kept the tradition alive and are cultivating jute.
However, farmers including Hrushikesh Sahu and Prabhakar Senapati have urged the government to buy jute from them. Otherwise, they would have to sell their harvest at throwaway price and thus suffer a huge loss.
Despite repeated attempts, Barchana block agriculture officer Loknath Mishra couldn’t be contacted for his comments.
PNN