SAMBALPUR: IT’S a double whammy for Sambalpur farmers. Having faced deficit rainfall this year, they are now forced to pay through the nose to buy fuel in order to run water pumps for irrigation.
Durgashankar Bag of Kanibandhli village under Tamperkela gram panchayat in Rengali block of the district has cultivated paddy in nine acres of land. However, owing to deficit rainfall and lack of irrigation facility, Bag depends on water pumps to save his crop. But rise in price of fuel has emerged as a major concern for him. The farmers, who used to hire 5 HP water pumps at Rs 150 per hour, are forced to shell out Rs 250 now and this has increased the farming input cost significantly.
Sources said the price of petrol and diesel in Sambalpur stands at Rs 79.02 and 79.61 respectively now while the same was Rs 68.73 and Rs 67.51 on October 26 last year. Besides water pumps, the price rise of fuel has also affected cost of hiring other agricultural machinery that run on diesel. Sambalpur Zilla Krushak Surakhya Sangathan vice-president Umesh Mishra said the farmers were hiring tractors for Rs 800 to Rs 900 per hour and power tillers for Rs 150 to Rs 200 per hour but the price has gone up due to hike in fuel price.
The farmers now have to pay around Rs 1,500 per hour for a tractor and Rs 500 per hour for a power tiller. The price of harvesters too has gone up sharply this year. Mishra said even as the price of hiring these machines has added to the cost of production, the price of agricultural produce has remained unchanged.
Recently, farmers in many parts of Western Odisha staged demonstration demanding the State Government to provide them fuel at less than the market price.
The farmers now have to pay around Rs 1,500 per hour for a tractor and Rs 500 per hour for a power tiller. The price of harvesters too has gone up sharply this year. Mishra said even as the price of hiring these machines has added to the cost of production, the price of agricultural produce has remained unchanged.
Recently, farmers in many parts of Western Odisha staged demonstration demanding the State Government to provide them fuel at less than the market price.