BARIPADA: The Covid-19 induced lockdown has spelt doom for the Sabai grass cultivators in the district as the demand has waned and so has the procurement.
With restrictions imposed on people crossing state borders, traders of the grass from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar who frequented the Sabai markets at Kishantandi in Moroda block and some weekly markets in Suliapada block to fetch the produce have stopped procurement leaving the cultivators in misery.
Last November, a few months into the first wave of Covid-19, the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) accorded permission to the Sabai craft to be sold in international market infusing new hopes among the grass cultivators who had lost all opportunities to sell their produce.
Seven months later, after the second wave has hit, the cultivators are back into troubled waters as there are no takers for their produce even now.
Srushtidhar Behera, a 48-year-old sabai cultivator and trader of Bagusole in Baripada, has been hit hard. He has not been able to sell any produce for the past one year.
Many others have ended up stocking around 20-30 quintal of surplus produce in their homes that were not sold due to low demand over the last year and a half.
Helpless, the farmers have been forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices of Rs 3,000-3,500 as opposed to Rs 5,000-5,500 that they used to get in the pre-pandemic times.
The sabai farmers had been registering less profit from their produce since a couple of years as procurement by department concerned was less and middlemen too took away a major share.
But now with demand on the wane, the farmers are looking at losses only. Even SHGs have stopped procurement during the second wave affecting farmers in Baripada, Shamakhutna, Khutna and some parts of Udala and Rashgobindpur blocks.
Deputy CEO of ORMAS, Biman Mal said the income of sabai farmers has indeed been heavily affected due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“Alongside, many shops managed by ORMAS in the district are closed, hitting the income of SHG members, traders and farmers in the district,” added Mal.