Water scarcity hits crops, green gram farmers in fix

JAGATSINGHPUR:  Scanty rainfall, funds crunch and lack of awareness on use of machinery like sprinklers have taken a toll on green gram (moong) cultivation in the district leaving farmers in the lurch.
Farmers in the district had cultivated green gram on 62,116 hectare of land.

As subsidised seeds were reportedly not supplied by the Agriculture department, the farmers had to buy them from the local market. But due to scarce rainfall in the last four months, the hopes of farmers were shattered as the crops got affected.  

Even after such plight, the farmers could not use machinery like water sprinklers which could have helped save the crops. Reason, lack of awareness on using such machinery and funds crunch. Only 4o of  2,198 farmers who had sown green gram in the district bought the sprinklers which were sold at a subsidised rate of `12,000 per unit by the Agriculture department.

But the sprinklers too did not help as farmers alleged those stopped functioning within a couple of months. A farmer of Naugaon said the sprinkler he had bought stopped functioning within a couple of months due to which his crop on around 2.5 acre of land was spoiled. 

Sarat Chandra Nayak (65) of Sanpur village in Jagatsinghpur block said he does not recall facing such adverse conditions in the past. “I had cultivated green gram on two acre of land and now it is tough to even recover the cost of seeds,” he said. Sources said green gram crops have suffered considerable damage in Balikuda, Erasama, Tirtol, Kujang, Raghunathpur, Jagatsinghpur, Naugaon and Biridi blocks of the district. 

Chief district agriculture officer, Rabinarayan Mohapatra said if it does not rain in the next 5-7 days, more damage would be caused. He said the Agriculture department had spread awareness on use of sprinklers among farmers and since a few used the machine, the damage to the crop is significant this year.