Hundreds of acres of paddy crop in Nuapada district have been damaged by swarming caterpillars in last one week. The District Agriculture Officer (DAO) has reported that the extent of damage is 692 acres. However, the farmers say it would be more than 1,000 acres.
“I traced the insects in the afternoon in my paddy crop and immediately went to buy pesticide thinking that I would spray it in the morning. When I went to the field with the sprayer the following morning, I became shocked. The insects had already damaged the two and a half acres of crop overnight,” said Buti Bag of Kampur village in Boden block, who had shown paddy in the patch of land after taking it on lease from another farmer.
Pankaj Majhi, a marginal farmer of the same village, has lost two acres of crop to the insects. likewise, more than 40 hectares of crop belonging to Netra Bhoi, Pankaj Majhi, B Sing Deo and 23 other farmers of Kampur have been completely damaged.The swarms of the insects are now crossing over to the other parts of the paddy fields. In Sinapali block, the worst-affected gram panchayat is Bargaon. “The damage is caused to more than 150 hectares of land in this panchayat alone,” said the villagers.
Khariar DAO said, “The extent of damage is in 250 acres in Boden block in nine villages of five panchayats, Rokal, Domjhar, Sunapur, Khaira and Farsara and 442 acres in 22 villages of Gandabaheli, Bargaon, Godal, Ghantiguda, Sinapali and Gambhariguda panchayats of Sinapali block.”“We have made arrangement to supply insecticides and sprayers at 50 per cent subsidised prices to the farmers in all the panchayat headquarters,” said Assistant Agriculture Officer of Boden block Pradeep Trivedi.
“Caterpillars had last created havoc in Nuapada district four years ago. If not controlled at the early stage, the insects would create as big a havoc this time again,” said convener of Krushak Sakti Sangathan Sanjay Tiwari.