Canals go dry in Odisha, fields feel the irrigation heat

JAGATSINGHPUR:  Machgaon and Taladanda canals, the lifeline of thousands of farmers, have dried up due to lack of rainfall, putting vast tracts of paddy fields in the coastal district in jeopardy.

The scanty rain coupled with lack of irrigation water has now cast a cloud over the kharif paddy yield in Jagatsinghpur.

The worst hit of the dry spell are Naugaon, Kujang and Erasama blocks where paddy crops over vast stretches of farmland have withered.

The situation has worsened to such an extent that paddy fields, which are mostly rain-fed, have developed cracks. 

Farmers of the three blocks mainly depend on Machgaon and Taladanda canals to carry out irrigation activities.

In wake of scanty rainfall, water is yet to be released in the canals, leading to a drought-like situation. Sources said water is not available for crops in upland and tail-end areas.

Maheswar Swain, a farmer of Naugaon, said, “I had sown paddy on three acre of land. But in absence of rain, the crops are on the verge of getting damaged. If the situation persists, I may lose my crop this season.”

Many farmers demanded immediate release of water from the two canals for their paddy saplings to survive.

So far in July, the district has received only 132 mm rainfall against the normal of 277.03 mm. But in June, Jagatsinghpur had received 210 mm rainfall against the normal of 202.03 mm. Out of the total eight blocks in the district, Naugaon,  Kujang and Erasama have received less than normal rains.

Official sources said 22,825 hectare (ha) of paddy fields in the district are irrigated by the water from Talandana canal, 34,083 ha by Machgaon canal, 7,000 ha by lift irrigation points, 11,180 ha by shallow tube-wells, 2,550 ha by Maha ha by other sources.

While 75,386 ha of land has been irrigated, 10,834 ha of paddy fields are yet to get water for irrigation due to inadequate rainfall.

District agriculture officer Prafulla Chandra Sethy said if rainfall does not occur within a week, the paddy crops would be affected.

The department has engaged village-level agriculture workers to take stock of the situation. The Irrigation department will release water through Machgaon and Taladanda canals in the first week of August, he added.