--Farmers fear to lose paddy in huge areas
: In summer season "Dalua"paddy is cultivated in Titirikata village of Madhpur Panchayat under Athmallik block of Angul district. But it is alleged that the farmers are going to suffer due to the spread of unknown disease in paddy field.
It is said that the disease has spread in 15 hectares of farm land of about eight farmers of the area. Very quickly, the unknown disease can affect all the agricultural land and there is a possibility of damage to the paddy cultivation.
After one Priyadarshani Swain of the area tweeted with the photo of her paddy field to the CMO, the Agriculture Minister and the Agriculture Secretary, the Agriculture Department has been on its toes.
Agriculture Secretary Arvind Padhi has instructed the district officials to monitor the incident and take immediate action. On February 25, Kishore Nagar Agriculture officials visited the affected paddy field.
In Madhpur area, due to the Manjoor Water Irrigation Project, paddy is cultivated twice in a year. Here too, "Dalua" paddy has been hit by the disease. It is assumed that the disease may spread due to the effect of too much use of herbicide or sudden increase in the atmospheric heat.
On Sunday, , Scientist from KBK, Angul Dr Debasis Mishra and the CDAO,Angul visited the affected farm land and also collected the sample of the infected paddy. The CDAO informed that the affected farmers will be provided with 50% discount in the particular medicine to be applied to contain the disease.
