BERHAMPUR: Deficit rainfall despite heavy rain prediction has hit kharif paddy cultivation spelling doom for farmers across Ganjam district. With all water sources including rivers remaining dry, the problem has only compounded for the ensuing agricultural season.
Most of the cultivable lands in the district are rain-fed due to inadequate irrigation coverage. This year, farmers were expecting a good kharif harvest after the meteorology department forecast normal rainfall but with monsoon playing hide and seek, they have started losing hope.
Sources said most farmers have not yet started agricultural work due to inadequate water supply. For this season, the district administration had fixed a target to cover 2.6 lakh hectare (ha). June and July are two crucial months for kharif paddy cultivation. But the dry spell in June has delayed farm work in the district.
As per reports, the district received only 49 mm rainfall against normal 168 mm this month. Some farmers had prepared the fields for sowing seeds by arranging water for irrigation of small patches but ploughing could not be taken up due to the heat and parched land across the district. To make it worse, reservoirs have recorded below 70 per cent (pc) storage capacity as against the usual 80 to 85 pc.
Not only lack of water, sources said scarcity of seeds are also a concern. The government supplies seeds through co-operative societies. But as election for the bodies are going on, no one is sparing a thought for this issue, farmers alleged. Peasant leader Simanchal Nahak said they have no option but to procure seeds from Andhra Pradesh.
“By this time, sowing should have been completed but hardly 20 per cent activity has been taken up in Chikiti, Kabisuryanagar, Khalikote, Sanakhemundi and Beguniapada blocks,” he claimed. Meanwhile, agricultural experts said if there’s no rainfall in the upcoming days, the situation will be critical.