ROURKELA: Rain and inclement weather over the past week have mounted woes of vegetable and oilseed farmers of Sundargarh district with standing crops facing pest attack and diseases.Farmer Niranjan Mahato of Kaliaposh village in Bisra block and his brothers Bholanath, Dipak and Ratnakar, had together cultivated potato on two acres of land but the crops have been affected by sheath blight disease. Standing potato crops on 35 to 40 acres are also facing sheath blight disease in nearby Mahipani and Dhatkidihi villages.
In Nuagaon block too, crops are affected by the disease while mustard plants have come under pest attack. Tomato crops are getting rotten as they leaned on the wet ground after rain. Nuagaon in Panposh sub-division is a leading producer of horticulture crops and farmers in Bisra, Kuanrmunda and Lathikata blocks of the sub-division also cultivate substantial amount of vegetable crops. Stating that he is receiving information about cauliflower, cabbage, bean, tomato and other vegetable crops in the sub-division being affected by sheath blight and sucking pest attack, Birmitrapur MLA Shankar Oram said he has asked the Sundargarh administration of take immediate steps to tackle the situation.
Horticulture officers said under the prevailing unfavourable weather condition, the farmers should not allow stagnation of water on the farm field and immediately start spraying of fungicide and application of fertilisers.In-charge Deputy Director of Horticulture for Sundargarh, Geetikrishna Naik said since there is no instruction from the Government, they have not assessed the crop loss yet.
No complaint has also been received from the affected farmers. “So far, we have no records on damage to horticulture crops. Normally, affected farmers put forth their complaints at the block level grievance meetings and subsequently, data on crop damage is collected”, she said.Only potato and onion crops are covered under crop insurance. Agriculture authorities said over 37,000 hectare has been programmed for vegetable cultivation in the ongoing rabi season.