ROURKELA: SUKRA Xalxo, a chilli grower of Nuagaon block under Sundargarh district, is staring at a massive loss despite being hopeful of getting a bumper yield of 20 quintal from his land this year.
The farmer of Satjuari village under Lukumbeda panchayat is clueless of what to do with the standing crop that is ready to be harvested. The price of one kg of chilli has crashed from Rs50-Rs60 per kg to Rs10 a kg now as traders are unable to reach mandis to procure vegetables. “I will not even be able to recover labour cost”, he said.
Xalxo’s plants are brimming with the pepper. If the harvested crop goes unsold and allowed to ripe to be sold as dry chilli, then 20 quintal would be reduced to five quintal with no guarantee of fetching him a break-even cost. Another farmer Debadhar Mahato of Sorda panchayat is doubly hit by the lockdown and recent hailstorm. Mahato said his pumpkin and cucumber crops were hit by hailstorm during fruit-bearing stage.
Still, he is in possession of about 30 quintal of pumpkin, unwilling to sell at price offer of Rs3 to Rs4 per kg against normal price of Rs10 a kg. His brother Madhu carries 20 quintal to Rourkela market for retail selling in the restricted hours to muster whatever income he can. Mahato said after about 3 to 4 quintal of cucumber crops got damaged, he sold rest of nearly 25 quintal at Rs3 per kg.
Vegetable farmers of Nuagaon and other blocks are facing the same plight. Some farmers of Bisra block have even started feeding crops to cattle. Assistant Horticulture Officer S Pathak said steps are being taken to provide market linkage to the farmers to enable them to sell their produce at fair price.
Rain damage for green gram crop
Jagatsinghpur : Unseasonal rain since the last few days has affected green gram crops over thousands of acres in the district, adding to the misery of farmers who are already reeling under the coronavirus lockdown. Farmer Basant Nayak (75) of Sanpur village under Jagatsinghpur block said such inclement weather is generally not witnessed in the months of March and April. “Heavy rain and hailstorms have damaged green gram crop over two acre of my land.
I am now unsure if I will be able to recover the cost of sowing the seeds,” he said. Green gram has been cultivated over 42,116 hectare (ha) of land in the district and the agriculture department has set a target to procure about 2.50 lakh quintal of moong from farmers. However, the inclement weather has cast a cloud on the harvest of the crop. Besides, farmers had faced difficulties in carrying out farming activities due to unavailability of labourers due to restrictions on public mobility. Many farmers said after Covid-19, the untimely rains have added to their woes. Farmer leader Nityananda Panda said the State Government should provide compensation to the affected farmers.