SAMBALPUR: Standing crops over 4200 hectares of land have been damaged following the heavy rain and hailstorm that occurred in the district on April 21.
Chief District Agricultural Officer (CDAO), Santosh Ray said, “We have found that standing paddy crop over 4,200 hectares have been damaged due to the rainfall. Mostly paddy fields in Dhankauda, Maneswar, Jujumura, parts of Rengali and Jamakira blocks have been affected.
"While at some places, paddy were in milking and flowering stages, at rest of the fields they had already attained pre-maturity stage.”
This season, paddy has been cultivated over around 14,630 hectares in Maneswar block and most of the farmers were expecting a bumper crop because of favourable weather condition so far.
However, due to the rainfall and low pressure prediction, they are worried over the crop yield.