A large number of flood-affected farmers of Jajpur district have not yet got sufficient groundnut seed even as time for sowing is fast exhausting.
The costs of the seed are soaring in the open market for which many peasants, whose backbone has been shattered by the recent flood, are not able to buy. The Government seed supply centres in all the blocks have not stocked sufficient groundnut seed.“The authority is yet to provide sufficient seed to the farmers. As a result, the fate of large numbers of farmers is hanging in balance,” lamented Prakash Jena, a farmer of Balichandrapur.
“The farmers of the district need 9,120 quintals of groundnut seed for the year to grow it on 10,300 hectares of land. We have received only 1,382 quintals till date. We hope the authority will provide more seed. The seed has to be provided to the farmers before December first week as that is the deadline for sowing the seed,” said Deputy Director of Agriculture R Das.
While the farmers are not able to buy seed from market, they too do not get it from the Government at subsidized rate. As a result, they may be forced to leave their land fallow, feared Smarajit Mohanty, a Bari-based farmer. The district has been facing natural disasters each year in the form of flood, cyclone and draught. Hundreds of acres of riverside land are fit for the raising groundnut.
A hassle free cultivation and bumper harvest could compensate the farmers who have been ravaged by the flood, but looking at the ground reality, it seems many farmers have to abandon the crop this time.The Government has fixed the groundnut seed at Rs 48 per kg. Due to non availability of seed in the Government run centers, farmers are being compelled to purchase seed in open market at as high as Rs60 to 70 per kg.
The sowing operations, at best, can be stretched for another ten days but if by that time the seed is not made available to the district, it may accentuate the misery of the farmers, said sources.Many farmers alleged that some venal agricultural officials are minting money by not providing subsidized seed to the farmers. On the other hand, they are illegally selling the seed to some private traders.