CUTTACK: Farmers from Cuttack expressed concern as the heavy rain which lashed the district under the impact of cyclone Montha have damaged their kharif paddy crops.
Among the 14 blocks of the district, Nischintakoili, Mahanga, Salepur and Niali bordering Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts are reportedly the worst affected.
Sources said most the paddy crops which were in their panicle and flowering stage have been flattened due to heavy rain and wind. “I had taken up cultivation of long-duration paddy and my crops were in their flowering stage. I was hopeful of a good harvest but most of my crops have been damaged due to rain on Tuesday,” said Debendra Rout, a farmer of Jignipur village in Nischintakoili block.
Paddy crops in most of these blocks had ripened by over 80 per cent but farmers said they weren’t able to cut them before the rain for lack of proper storage space and unavailability of paddy-cutting machines. “It was not possible on our part to manually cut the crops within a short duration of time. Hence we left our crops to the mercy of God,” said some farmers adding, agriculture officials are yet to conduct a crop loss assessment.
Agriculture experts have, meanwhile, opined that the chances to revive the crops are thin as most have been badly damaged. Efforts to elicit response from chief district agriculture officer Rajashree Behera proved futile.