CUTTACK: Farmers of Banki-Dampada block are a worried lot as the recent flash flood due to heavy rainfall on Tuesday is forcing them to sell their produce to traders at throwaway prices. To add to their woes, the locality does not have any cold storage facility.
The situation is grim in Kushpangi, Pathapur and Ragadi gram panchayats under the block where majority of farmers earn their livelihood by cultivating seasonal vegetables.
Farmers complained that incessant rains since July 25 have led to severe waterlogging in their agriculture fields. The situation worsened on Tuesday after heavy rains lashed from 10 am to 5 pm submerging the farm fields under knee-deep water. This has, meanwhile, forced them to recover their leftover healthy vegetables from the fields and sell them at throwaway prices.
“Forget making profit, we fear we might even lose the investment we made in growing our crops. The stagnant water in our farmlands has caused rotting of roots. We are now trying to recover the pumpkins from the waterlogged fields as they will rot if we delay it even by another two to three days, and sell them to traders at whatever prices they are offering,” said Dusmant Parida, a farmer of Kotadwar village under Ragadi gram panchayat.
Around 50 farmers of Kusapangi, Pathapur and Ragadi gram panchayats take up pumpkin cultivation twice in a year to earn their livelihood. “While the market price of pumpkins is Rs 30 per kg, we are being forced to sell them at around Rs 10 per kg. If we fail to do away with the stock, they might rot soon,” said another farmer Kalpataru Khatua.
Among other vegetables grown by farmers of Banki-Dampada are sweet potato, snake gourd, brinjal, ladies’ finger and bitter gourd etc. Apart from selling the produce in nearby markets, farmers here usually supply them to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. However, excessive rainfall coupled with lack of storage facilities is forcing them to sell their stock at much lower rates.