SAMBALPUR: This, perhaps, was the last thing the drought-hit farmers of western Orissa wanted.
Low pressure-triggered unseasonal rain has caused extensive damage to kharif crops here.
With paddy crop either dumped in market yards, stacked in hay yards or lying in the fields after harvesting waiting to be shifted to the hay yards, the 11.2 mm of rainfall today came as a curse for farmers.
Maintaining that they had fought hard to save their crop despite drought conditions, farmer Chiran Patra of Gulamal village in Rengali block said the rain would discolour the paddy and it will be difficult to find buyers.
Similarly, another farmer Aswini Badhei of Kabrapali village in Jujumura block fears that his crop which is lying to be ferried to the market yard for sale will germinate with the bags getting soaked in the rain. It has washed away all their hopes of good return from agricultural produce.
It is not only the paddy crop which has been damaged due to the unscheduled rain. The rain has also taken toll on standing vegetables with horticulturists explaining that the rain has made pest attack inevitable.
Terming the unseasonal rain as ‘wet drought', they said that relief of some kind from the State Government will only help them and their families survive.
Expressing apprehension that more rains in next two days will spell doom for the farmers, farmer leader Ashok Pradhan said the rain would boost moisture content in paddy and can disrupt paddy procurement process which was streamlined with great difficulty.
However, he said that if the sun shines tomorrow, things can be managed.
Farmers feel the heat
Paradip: The chill following cloudy weather and rain for the last two days has got mixed response from locals here. While rains disrupted normal life, farmers are a worried lot.
Rain is never a welcome during harvesting season.
With the paddy lying in the field, there is danger of sprouting, said one farmer Anant Nayak of Tirtol area. If it continues to rain for another two days, the paddy will germinate spoiling the season's harvest.
District Agriculture Officer Nilamani Dash said that the department was keeping a strict vigil over the situation.
While the sudden change in weather has many complaining of cold and fever, it's the woollen merchants, who are cheering the most. Hoping for brisk business, they would like the chill to continue till January- end.
Meanwhile, District Emergency Officer Sarojakant Mohanty said cloudy weather and rainfall may likely to continue for another two days following depression off Chennai coast.