SAMBALPUR: For farmers of Sambalpur’s Jamankira block, protecting their crops and harvested produce from elephants is a more pressing concern than participating in the ongoing kharif paddy procurement. As per reports, elephants have been straying into several villages of the block and wreaking havoc in paddy fields for the last week. Local farmers claimed they have faced huge losses as the jumbos are frequently entering paddy fields to graze on standing paddy crops and even sheds where paddy bags are stored.
Straying of elephants in villages in Jamankira is not new as most of these hamlets are located close to forests. But this time, the number of elephants entering human habitations in search of food has reportedly increased significantly.
The worst affected are farmers of Badkundeisara village under Kulundi gram panchayat. At least seven farmers of the village have lost standing crops over around half an acre of land each. Similarly, another farmer of nearby Goudpali village claimed elephants have destroyed his crops over two acres of land. There are also reports of the jumbos breaking into the paddy storage sheds of a few farmers, leading to the loss of their produce.
Farmer Iswar Pradhan said, “For more than a week, all the farmers here are spending sleepless nights to guard their fields from the elephants. We are more cautious as procurement has already started and we do not have proper market yards. The unlifted harvested crops are at a high risk of getting damaged.”
Pradhan said farmers have informed the forest officials about the crop damage to avail compensation. “The officials have asked us to register our complaints online. We are not sure if we will get the compensation,” he added.
A forest official deployed at Goudpali said a herd of 30 elephants has been moving around Jamankira block for the last few days. It had entered Badkundeisara from Kadalipali and is now moving towards Padiabahal village. “We are monitoring the movement of the elephants. We are also contacting the farmers who have suffered losses and asking them to register their complaints through ‘Anukampa’ app for faster disbursal of compensation,” he informed. Meanwhile, on Friday, at least 40,784 bags of paddy were procured from 278 farmers in the district. The paddy procurement for the kharif season commenced in the district on Wednesday.