As monsoon plays hide & seek, Odisha farmers stare at possible drought

Following the flood that put the farmers of coastal Odisha under distress, the farmers of southern Odisha are staring at a possible drought situation, unless it rains in the next few days.

With monsoon playing hide and seek in Odisha, the condition for farming has gone from bad to worse. From Koraput to Ganjam, Kharif crops are on the verge of going to waste, thanks to inadequate irrigation in the region.

A farmer in Munja village under Koraput district said, “I loaned money to plant paddy saplings, but poor rains have marred my prospects of profit.”

On top of that, the nearby Telengiri irrigation project does not help either.

Another farmer of Munja panchayat said, “We have not been to our lands for 60 days. We cannot incur losses every year because of poor monsoon. I request the government to expand the Telengiri irrigation project so that all our lands are irrigated.”

A similar situation prevails in Ganjam where people in Haridapadar panchayat under Aska block have joined hands to erect a check dam over Baghua river. As per reports, the locals of the Panchayat have allegedly been demanding an anicut on the river for 20 years, but have received nothing from the government except assurances.

Gajapati Nahaka, Village President of Haridapadar said, “No politician or Minister listened to our plights. Our crops are on the verge of dying. So we decided to take matters into our own hands and erect a check dam on our own.”

"A barrage cannot be made here, because of which thousands of hectares of farmland are going to witness a drought situation. That is why we are forced to make a check dam on the river on our own,” said, another local of Haridapadar village, Purnachandra Barada.

As far as monsoon is concerned, Odisha should ideally receive 676mm of rainfall between June 1 and August 10. But it has received only 646mm. Some districts particularly, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Ganjam, Khordha, Puri, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapara, and Jagatsinghpur have witnessed deficit rainfall. At the same time, five districts including Boudh have received more than average rainfall.

Nabarangpur district has received the lowest rainfall (42mm below normal) till now.

If the IMD is to be believed, the chances of rain in the near future are not great either.

“Because the flow of Monsoon is weak in Odisha, the climatic condition has not become favourable for rains. However, due to hot and humid climate, some parts of the State may see rains,” said IMD Weather Scientist, Umashankar Das.