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Bhubaneswar: Agriculture activities for the current Kharif season has been affected in the State as monsoon played truant after a few days of its predicted onset.
Most of regions in the State have received 27 per cent less rainfall than the normal till now causing an adverse impact on the farming sector.
As per the weather department data, as many as 19 districts in the State are facing deficient rainfall out of which six are going through a grim situation after recording less than 40 per cent rain so far this season.
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The cultivated land in many parts have dried up in absence of rain while paddy saplings turned yellow in some other areas.
“The saplings have already died due to excess heat with absence of rain. How we can take forward farming activities this year, wondered Mayadhar Barik, a farmer in Basudevpur of Bhadrak.
Farmers said that they had already finished the pre-tilling activities with the arrival of monsoon in thr first week of June. They are waiting for favourable conditions to take forward the sapling plantation and associate activities.
“Initially, our area had witnessed a good spell of downpour following which we started sowing paddy for saplings. But, rain stopped abruptly causing extensive damage to the sprouted saplings,” Bibhisan Jhankar, a farmer in Boudh, said.
“We are doing the tilling activities by irrigating the lands through pumps. We are doing as much as we can. Most of the land will turn grazing ground for cattle if rain doesn’t occur in the coming days,” said Rudra Jena, another farmer in Keonjhar said.
Districts like Bhadrak, Jajpur,Keonjhar,Bolangir, Gajapati, Sambalpur and Boudh are the worst hit among others in the State. These districts received less than 40 per cent rainfall.
Meanwhile, the Met department's prediction of a possible low pressure area on July 21-22 has brought a ray of hope for the desperate farmers.
It seems, like the farmers, the government too has left it to the Rain God for a turn around of fate.
“We are expecting a good amount of rain in coming days as the Met department predicts a low pressure over Bay of Bengal during July 21-22. Otherwise, we are well prepared to go for other alternatives for the farming community," Agriculture Minister Arun Sahoo said.
