Jaleswar: The government has taken several steps to boost agriculture and strengthen the economic backbone of farmers by promoting cash crops. However, in many cases, such efforts have been found to be ineffective in Jaleswar area of Balasore.
According to reports, farmers doing sunflower cultivation in the area for the last few years are now averse to do cash crop farming like sunflower due to lack of marketing facilities and governmental support. A few years ago, farmers in Ramchandrapur had taken up sunflower cultivation, which later picked up in other areas too, due to favourable climate. Local famers however said no support was forthcoming from the government and hence they are losing interest in this farming.
They said sunflower seeds would start rotting if the seeds are not treated within four to five days after harvest. Another problem is that there are no oil mills in the area. Farmers have to travel 20km to neighbouring West Bengal to extract oil. Farmers say they sell the oil to Bengal traders at throwaway prices as there’s no marketing facility here.
Farmers face problem in preserving seeds after harvest or in immediate milling. Like the existing preservation system for other crops, the government should do the same for sunflower seeds too, they said. Though they have been demanding preservation and procurement centres in their areas, no step was being taken so far, said Ashok Patra of Jaleswar and Rabindra Jena of Sugo village.
The agriculture department attaches importance to increasing paddy production and other crops by way of providing technical knowhow and training to farmers. But a similar facility is lacking for sunflower growers for a bumper harvest. As farmers are using traditional methods in sunflower cultivation, it fails to yield good harvest, farmers said, adding that they do not get the right returns in proportion to their hard labour.
Another problem is that sunflower seeds are supplied to farmers though some oil firms instead of through government agencies. The farmers mooted an idea, saying the government should identify a patch of land in the area and take up sunflower cultivation using scientific methods for the purpose of seed preservation and distribution. They also feel that they will have good earnings from this cultivation if they are trained in the use of scientific methods.
Agriculture officer of Jaleswar A block, Kiran Kumar Parida said farmers are being made aware of new techniques of cash crop farming like sunflower through workshops. PNN
