Balangir farmers set afire paddy plants Monday, 29 October 2018 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR

Balangir farmers set afire paddy plants

Monday, 29 October 2018 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR

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Farmers set on fire pest-affected paddy plants in several acres of land in some villages in Balangir district on Saturday evening.

According to information, Anil Hota of Sahajbahal village set ablaze paddy plants on two acres of land as the crops were destroyed ‘Chakada Poka’ (Brown Plant Hopper) attack.

Similarly, Ashok Pradhan, a famer of Jhareibahali village, set afire paddy plants on 10 decimal area for the same reason.

Deputy Director of Agriculture, Balangir, Sridhar Das, admitting such incidents, said a team of agriculture officials has been sent to assess the situation in the two villages.

“We would appeal to farmers not to burnt the paddy plants as it will create problem in making crop loss assessment for insurance claims. Besides, plant burnings will destroy micro nutrients present in the soil,” said he.

Notably, a Central team and the Deputy Director of Agriculture had visited the pest-affected paddy field and advised some measures, including use of insecticides, for pest control.

According to sources, Kharif paddy in a total of 4,000 hectares of land has been affected due to pest attack in Balangir. Of the damaged crops, loss in 1026 hectares crossed the Economic Threshold Limit (ETL).

Interestingly, there was also incident of pest attack last year but farmers didn’t get any relief as they were supplied substandard pesticide only.

Even as insecticide samples were collected and tested in Haryana, no results were known yet.

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Balangir farmers torch damaged crops

Saturday, 04 November 2017 | PNS | BALANGIR / JHARSUGUDA/ BRAHMAPUR

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Close on the heels of farmers of several other parts of the State torching their paddy crops due to damage caused by pest attack, farmers in Balangir district also burnt their paddy crop due to damage.

According to reports, a farmer of Khapraphol in Balangir, Brundaban Barik, on Thursday set fire to his paddy crops after it was

affected due to Chakada or Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) pest attack.

Barik has a total of eight acres of land, out of which three acres are having irrigation facility and rest five acres are non-irrigated.

He had appraised the district administration about his problems. Agriculture Department officials had advised him to spray insecticide.

But although the crop condition was good, the unseasonal rainfall, hot and humid conditions accelerated the pest attack, sources said.

Normally, the BPH pest occurs in the summer paddy crop. But the rainfall after Durga Puja and hot and humid conditions led to BPH pest attack in the Kharif paddy crop. Due to this pest attack at the roots of plants, the nutrition and other supplies to the plants are cut off, resulting in death of the plants, said Balangir Deputy Director of Agriculture Sridhar Das.

Asked to comment on substandard insecticide being sold in the market and provided to farmers, Das said, “We have collected samples of the insecticide and sent them to the State laboratory for test.”

“We have got reports of the pest attack from Gudvella, loisingha and Khapraphol blocks and a report is being prepared for submission to the Government, he added.

In Jharsuguda district, farmers in Siriapalli village set fire to their crops after attack by pests. Reports said more than 50 farmers set their damaged crops ablaze on Friday.

Besides, in Rampa village of Chikiti block of Ganjam district, a farmer set on fire his damaged crops. 

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