KENDRAPARA: Three days of untimely rainfall and winds destroyed green gram (moong) and vegetable crops across Kendrapada and its nearby areas.
Farmers from viilages of Aul, Mahakalapada, Rajnagar, Derabishi ,Pattamundai, Marsaghai, Rajkanika and Garadpur blocks have reported complete damage to the crops just weeks before harvest.
“We lost moong crops over our two acres of land. You can see all the crops are destroyed due to water-logging”, said Bimran Jena, a moong farmer of Garadpur. Another farmer Arabinda Malick from Bharatpur village echoed similar sentiments.
Farmers of the district cultivated moong over around 40,000 hectare this year.
The unseasonal incessant rain dashed the hopes of large numbers of farmers who were expecting bumper crops, said Umesh Chandra Singh, a farmers’ leader and the president of district unit of Krishak Sabha.
Kaliprasan Behera, a vegetable grower of Srirampur village said a large number of farmers had grown vegetables on their land but the rain has damaged their backbones.
Chief district agriculture officer (CDAO), Kendrapara Kalyan Kumar Ray said, affected farmers will get help from the Agricultural department. “We have directed all the block level officials to submit reports about the crop loss due to untimely rain,” he added.
Meanwhile, hundreds of fishing vessels remained docked at Paradip as fishermen were cautioned against venturing into the sea due to trough.