Loan, seed, irrigation, storage glitches hit farming in Balangir

Loan, seed, irrigation, storage glitches hit farming in Balangir
TUESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2011 23:53 SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR HITS: 5
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There is problem in getting timely loans from banks, shortage of seeds and fertiliser, irregular electricity supply, lack of irrigation, besides unavailability of agricultural labourers in rural areas, intermittent drought affect adversely agricultural operations in Balangir and Subarnapur, said the farmers in the two districts to a four-member farmers commission headed by SM Pattnaik on their visit to Balangir on Monday.

The major problem affecting us are absence of irrigation and timely credit from banks, said a farmer of Belpada block Premananda Sahu.

When we get loan from bank after lot of harassment, either it is in the middle of the crop or even towards the end of crop, which forces us to go for borrowing at heavy interest rate, Sahu said.

“We had to run to block office to get seed, fertiliser and insecticide for around 10 days which increased the cost of farming,” pointed out another farmer Santosh Patel of Damepali of Khaprakhol block.

“With easy availability of rice in rural areas due to rice at `2 per kg scheme, getting agricultural labourer in rural area has become a Herculean task. The labourers, who were earlier working in our field used to take paddy as their wage but now they are reluctant and demanding money at inflated rate, which has created a lot of difficulties for farmers, Patel further said.

Migration has also added to the woes and many a people, who are going for migration to earn more and some even are receiving money from the dalals in advance rather than toil in field, Patel pointed out further.

The district administration should check migration from the district, besides ensuring irrigation to farmer’s field, Patel suggested.

Besides, the problem in getting loans, farmers are also facing problem in soil testing.

“We have to wait for long days to get our soil test results at Patnagarh,” said president of Baghbahali village under Patnagarh block Seshdev Bhoi. It affects our cultivation process, Bhoi maintained.

The electricity which is supplied to us comes at its own sweet will and we are dependent on it and there is nobody to regulate it. However, the electricity department never fails to send its bill in the month end, said Abhimunayu Mundaof Larkipali.

It takes days to get loans sanctioned from a bank and the middle man and corruption play a crucial role without which it is difficult to get the loans, informed Karmu Nayak. Incentives should be provided to farmers to encourage fencing of fields, Nayak added.

The absence of rain in the early stage affected the cotton seedlings. Again farmers took up plantation. However, the dry spell of September and October affected the cotton crop and damaged it up to 70 per cent, said Khageshwar Sahu of Bangibahal village.

The Government should make arrangement for supply of BT cotton seed. While BT cotton has been allowed in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, why the Odisha Government should not allow it? When I took the cotton to Jogimunda cotton mandi, it was not purchased and I had to bring back it to my house, said Khageshwar Sahu of Bangibahal village.

There was acute shortage of fertiliser in Birmaharajpur area of Sonepur district and I had to purchase fertiliser through a dalal at 40 per cent more than the declared price, Jatin Panigrahi of Anandapur village of Sonepur district informed.

This year cotton cultivation has been badly affected and insurance coverage should be provided. The insurance premium for cotton crop is very high and it should be reduced, Panigrahi said.

The check dams should be constructed in such a way that they should really serve the purpose of providing irrigation to the farmer’s field, a few farmers demanded.

Other problems that were brought to the notice of the commission included checking the dalas in Mandi system, miller’s harassment to farmers, better irrigation facility to farmers and treating agriculture as industry.

“We are listening to all the problems of the farmers of the districts. Farmers have specially complained of water shortage, problem in getting seed, timely supply of fertiliser and marketing problem. Besides these districts, we will also tour other districts and take into account the problems of farmers. We would recommend solutions to the Government after that,” said SM Pattnaik to mediapersons.

Other members who were present were Vice Chancellor of, OUAT Dr DP Roy, Sudhakar Panda, Gadadhar Parida, besides Deputy Director, Agriculture (DDA) Manoranjan Mallick.