A five-member team of the Central Government visited Nuapada district on Thursday to assess the impact of drought.
The team led by Joint Secretary Marketing, Ministry of Agriculture KS Srinivasan visited four villages of Nuapada block and discussed with farmers about the current situation.
Talking to mediapersons after the field visits, the team members revealed that the situation in the district is grim. “Crop loss everywhere is more than 70 per cent to 80 per cent,” they observed.
Farmers at Godfula village complained that they haven't received any assistance from the Government. The district administration, however, claimed that it has already released Rs 7 crore to farmers out of Rs 8 crore received from the Government.
The team members also observed that there should be permanent solutions like bore-well irrigation to address the problems of farmers’ dependence on rains. The team held a meeting with district officials after the field visit.
“We don’t know in what way our farmers would benefit from this team’s visit. Officials come and go, but our situation does not change. There should be permanent measures to address the problems of drought,” said farmer leaders of the district.
“The impact of drought does not wait the Government to conduct survey and assessment. It takes its toll in the form of suicides and distress migration,” they added.