The Krushak Sakti Sangathan, a farmers organisation of Nuapada district, has drawn attention of the CM towards various problems of farmers.
A memorandum addressed to the CM was submitted to 5T Chairman VK Pandian during his Nuapada visit. "Our primary demand is payment of bonus to farmers. We demand a bonus of Rs 1,400 per quintal over and above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy. The MSP fixed for paddy is not sufficient even to cover the expenses we make," said Sanjay Tiwari, convenor of KSS. "We also demand allotment of fund for construction of a barrage in Udanti River near Baijalpur in Sinapali block to connect river Udanti with Sundar under Nadi Sanjogikarana Yojana to provide irrigation to land in Sinapali (100%), Boden(90%) and Khariar block (90%)," he added.
Other demands of the KSS include waiver of agricultural loan of farmers andfree electricity supply for agriculture purposes etc.
Tiwari stated that a ban on cutting of Bamur trees in farmers' land has forced farmers to face loss of income as they are unable to sell the Bamur trees available in the embankments of their cultivable lands. "Bamur tree grows quickly and can be harvested as a high income crop every five to six years; so we have also demanded lifting of the ban," added Tiwari.