Balangir: Hard time for groundnut growers as soil lacks moisture FRIDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2011 22:35 SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR HITS: 4

Balangir: Hard time for groundnut growers as soil lacks moisture
FRIDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2011 22:35
SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR
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After paddy crop suffered heavy loss, thanks to the irregular and scanty rainfall in the district this year, the farmers are again in trouble in harvesting groundnut crop due to lack of moisture in the soil.

Groundnut is a 100-110 days crop, which grows inside sandy loam and well-drained soil and is widely cultivated in Patnagarh, Titilagarh, Deagoan and Agalpur, among other blocks of Balangir. It is grown during the Kharif season and farmers usually sow it in June and harvest it by September as the soil remains wet during the time.

There are two types of groundnut plants — runner and bunch types — cultivated in the district. Balangir has mostly rain-fed conditions. The groundnut crop cultivated in the rain-fed conditions requires rain during its flowering and just before harvesting, says an agriculture official.

However, this year, there has been much irregularity in rainfall in the district.

First, there was excessive delay in rains and then there was irregular and scanty rainfall, which affected the sowing of the crop. After becoming ready, a farmer has to harvest it by uprooting the plant. If there is moisture in the soil due to rain, the plant is easily uprooted. As there has been no rain in the month of October, the soil remains hard here. As a result, the ground nut farmers are finding it difficult to do the harvesting act.

“We have cultivated groundnut in four acres of land and in the absence of rain, we are finding it difficult to harvest the crop. If the crop remains within the soil for next 20-25 days, it would be susceptible to attack by rats and termites,” says a farmer Chitta Sahu of Agalpur block.

As the soil has been hard, whenever a farmers is trying to uproot, a large amount of groundnuts are lost in the soil. Further, digging requires additional labour and pain.

Groundnut is mostly cultivated in Adabahal and Kursud gram panchayats in Titilagarh block. As the soil has been hard, farmers are finding it difficult to harvest. In the absence of rain, some farmers are bringing water in bullock carts and spraying it over the roots of the groundnut plants so that it can be uprooted easily. But this is a difficult task and puts additional burden on the farmers, says the agriculture official.

This year groundnut cultivation has been taken up in 6, 900 hectares all over the district and it is widely grown in Patnagarh and Titilagarh areas, in particular. The groundnut productions in the district could go up further with better application of fertiliser and management practices, says Deputy Director of Agriculture Manoranjan Mallick.

Groundnut, which has a readymade acceptance and cash value, is facing threats from other promoted cash crops like cotton. The area under groundnut cultivation is declining rapidly and people are increasingly evincing interest in cotton cultivation in those lands.

Ironically, even though there is insurance cover for the crop, hardly has any insurance been done for the farmers. With soil becoming hard, it seems the fate of the farmers has been sealed off.