POOR RAINFALL HITS FARMING OPERATIONS
Monday, 17 August 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in Bhubaneswar
Kosanta Podh is a marginal farmer of Kusmal village in Nuapada district. He had planned for transplantation of paddy in 2 acres of his land this year. But, paddy seedlings in the field have turned yellow now for want of water. “The land would go fallow. The only way out is to migrate,” said a hopeless Kosanta.
Suratha Sagaria is the Sarapanch of Birighat Panchayat in Khariar block. He had also planned for paddy transplantation in 2 acres of land. “I have already left the seed field open for grazing of cattle.
The seedlings died due to lack of moisture,” said Suratha. More than 100 acres, which is about 50 per cent of total land in Kusmal village, will remain fallow this year. Not only this, the paddy done through broadcasting of seeds will also suffer. “Crop will fail in more than 80 per cent of total land in our village,” Suratha added.
Lack of rain caused havoc among farmers, especially in Khariar, Sinapali and Komna blocks of Nuapada district. In the month of July, the total rainfall was 278.20 mm in Nuapada district, which is about 50 per cent less than the regular normal rainfall of the month. In August, till now, the precipitation is only 20 per cent of the rainfall of the corresponding period of 2014. “The agricultural operation like ploughing of standing paddy plants which is called ‘Beusana’ and transplantation falls between July 15 and August 15.
Rainfall during this period has been very scanty, which will affect paddy severely” said District Agriculture Officer of Khariar Narottam Behera.Nuapada district has 1, 98, 690 hectares (ha) of cultivable land out of which 47 per cent is used for paddy cultivation. System of rice cultivation in one third of total paddy area is transplantation. The data obtained from the Agriculture Department reveals that transplantation operations have not yet begun in 57 per cent of 27,000 ha of land during the current year. Likewise Beusana has not been done in 50 per cent of the total land covered under direct sowing. The situation in all three blocks of Khariar Assembly constituency is worst. In Khariar block, transplantation and Beusana operations have been completed only in 11 per cent (1,200 ha) of the total paddy coverage area. In Sinapali block, transplantation is yet to be done in 1,665 ha (65 per cent), and Beusana has not been done in 67 per cent of paddy area with direct sowing.
“At least 250 mm of rainfall is required to save the crops now,” said the DAO. The farmers, however, have left hope. The Lower Indra Irrigation Project (LIIP) authority claimed that they would provide irrigation to 2,000 ha this year. “The left canal is carrying water up to 20 km, covering at least 2,000 ha of land,” said the Executive Engineer of Canal Division. But the farmers said the project officials were lying. “It is not true. Construction of the minor canals has not yet been completed. The elevations are not proper. They might be covering about five to seven hundred acres,” said Krushak Sakti Sangathana convenor Sanjay Tiwari here.
The conditions of Lift Irrigation (LI) points are also not good. Out of 133 Government LI points in Khariar block installed in river Sundar, 30 points are not working. Now, due to less rainfall, the water availability in the river has reduced. This has resulted in shrinking of the irrigated area under LI points by 1,500 ha out of the total coverage of 3,000 ha. Although possibility of less rainfall was evident from the beginning, the LIIP and Lift Irrigation Department did not take any effort to address the issues.
Kosanta Podh is a marginal farmer of Kusmal village in Nuapada district. He had planned for transplantation of paddy in 2 acres of his land this year. But, paddy seedlings in the field have turned yellow now for want of water. “The land would go fallow. The only way out is to migrate,” said a hopeless Kosanta.
Suratha Sagaria is the Sarapanch of Birighat Panchayat in Khariar block. He had also planned for paddy transplantation in 2 acres of land. “I have already left the seed field open for grazing of cattle.
The seedlings died due to lack of moisture,” said Suratha. More than 100 acres, which is about 50 per cent of total land in Kusmal village, will remain fallow this year. Not only this, the paddy done through broadcasting of seeds will also suffer. “Crop will fail in more than 80 per cent of total land in our village,” Suratha added.
Lack of rain caused havoc among farmers, especially in Khariar, Sinapali and Komna blocks of Nuapada district. In the month of July, the total rainfall was 278.20 mm in Nuapada district, which is about 50 per cent less than the regular normal rainfall of the month. In August, till now, the precipitation is only 20 per cent of the rainfall of the corresponding period of 2014. “The agricultural operation like ploughing of standing paddy plants which is called ‘Beusana’ and transplantation falls between July 15 and August 15.
Rainfall during this period has been very scanty, which will affect paddy severely” said District Agriculture Officer of Khariar Narottam Behera.Nuapada district has 1, 98, 690 hectares (ha) of cultivable land out of which 47 per cent is used for paddy cultivation. System of rice cultivation in one third of total paddy area is transplantation. The data obtained from the Agriculture Department reveals that transplantation operations have not yet begun in 57 per cent of 27,000 ha of land during the current year. Likewise Beusana has not been done in 50 per cent of the total land covered under direct sowing. The situation in all three blocks of Khariar Assembly constituency is worst. In Khariar block, transplantation and Beusana operations have been completed only in 11 per cent (1,200 ha) of the total paddy coverage area. In Sinapali block, transplantation is yet to be done in 1,665 ha (65 per cent), and Beusana has not been done in 67 per cent of paddy area with direct sowing.
“At least 250 mm of rainfall is required to save the crops now,” said the DAO. The farmers, however, have left hope. The Lower Indra Irrigation Project (LIIP) authority claimed that they would provide irrigation to 2,000 ha this year. “The left canal is carrying water up to 20 km, covering at least 2,000 ha of land,” said the Executive Engineer of Canal Division. But the farmers said the project officials were lying. “It is not true. Construction of the minor canals has not yet been completed. The elevations are not proper. They might be covering about five to seven hundred acres,” said Krushak Sakti Sangathana convenor Sanjay Tiwari here.
The conditions of Lift Irrigation (LI) points are also not good. Out of 133 Government LI points in Khariar block installed in river Sundar, 30 points are not working. Now, due to less rainfall, the water availability in the river has reduced. This has resulted in shrinking of the irrigated area under LI points by 1,500 ha out of the total coverage of 3,000 ha. Although possibility of less rainfall was evident from the beginning, the LIIP and Lift Irrigation Department did not take any effort to address the issues.
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