Rains wash off paddy in Orissa

It’s raining miseries for Orissa’s small farmers. Already reeling under the impact of drought,they were dealt a fatal blow last week when the cyclonic depression over the Bay of Bengal battered their ripe paddy crops. Recently,the state government had declared 10,991 villages under 107 blocks and 104 wards under 14 urban local bodies of 17 districts as drought-hit with monsoon being erratic this year and 16 of the 30 districts in the state having received deficient to severe deficient rainfall. Farmers in the 17 districts suffered a sustained crop loss of 50 per cent and above for autumn or kharif paddy during 2010. The state government last month submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking central assistance of Rs.1516.74 crore out of the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) to execute different drought mitigation measures.But as the farmers in upland areas,the most vulnerable to the vagaries of nature,were getting ready to harvest their crop,the unseasonal rains blighted their hope of a good harvest.“The paddy in my 2.5 acre of land is all soggy. I was about to harvest when the rains started,” said Ratan Pradhan,a small farmer from Nayagarh. The rains affected paddy crops in the southern districts of Ganjam and Gajapati and western districts of Bolangir and Subarnapur and parts of Kalahandi. As Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik toured Ganjam and Gajapati last week,agitated farmers had rushed to him to show him soggy bushels of paddy. At Nayagarh,farmers had blocked the national highway,.demanding compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre.“The rains may not affect the overall production of rice in the state,but it has caused individual miseries,” said director,agriculture and food production department,R Sant Gopalan. “As most of the paddy harvest comes from the districts of Bargarh,Sambalpur and Kalahandi,we don’t expect the overall harvest to be hit. In Orissa,a majority of the farmers have small landholdings and they are likely to be hit by the unseasonal rains,” Sant Gopalan added.Last year,the state had harvested 70 lakh tonnes of rice after drought-like situations in western Orissa affected the paddy crop there. The year previous to yielded less,around 68 lakh tonnes,due to flood in coastal Orissa. This year the target is 74.64 lakh tonnes of rice. The agriculture director said he expected the rice production this year to be the same as that of last year.Though the Chief Minister was expected to announce an assistance package for the farmers,it is being delayed as some districts are yet to send in their estimated losses.

Besides paddy,sugarcane crop was also damaged in the rain,said general secretary,Ganjam District Sugarcane Growers’ Association Samir Pradhan. The farmers have requested requested the CM to write off the crop loan and grant adequate compensation for the loss.