The low pressure-induced incessant rain has reportedly caused widespread damage to kharif crops, mostly standing paddy crops, in the State.With rice plants are in flowering to rpening stage, reports received from different districts said the excessive unseasonal rains will spell doom for farmers who were anticipating a bumper harvest this year. With large parts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Jagatsingpur, Kendrapara have so far received extremely heavy rainfall in the last two days, this could impact final yield of paddy in those fields where ‘lodging’ has taken place.
Lodging is the bending over of the stems near ground level of crops, which makes them very difficult to harvest, and can reduce yield. Gourahari Jena, a farmer of Budhaama panchayat of Kabisuryanagar block in Ganjam district, said vast stretches of crop fields are waterlogged with reports of rice plant lodging.
With the Met office forecasting more rains, the prospects of rice plants recovering to standing position appears bleak. “We were expecting a bumper harvest this kharif as the weather was favourable to crop conditions. Now we have lost hope,” Jena rued.However, the exact quantum of damage and extent of loss will be ascertained only after a proper assessment is made. Report from districts will arrive only after the current spell of rain is over, said a senior agronomist of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department.
The early and medium varieties of paddy crops were in harvesting stage when the system in the Bay of Bengal hit the State. The harvested crops were damaged as the farmers had little time to save the same.
Apart from paddy, kharif crops like maize, groundnut and cotton were in maturity stage and ready for harvest. As draining out of water from the crop field is not possible, the groundnut crop will be badly damaged, the sources said. In its advisory to farmers before the rains, the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) had asked them to postpone harvesting mature paddy.
Gloomy situation
11 districts received extremely heavy rainfall
Lodging of rice plants reported in several acre of paddy fields
Groundnut crops to be badly damaged