The recent flood fury in Jajpur district has affected standing paddy crops, adding to the expected shortfall in crop production while pushing up food prices. About one lakh hectare of paddy was submerged in the district.
Flood has also affected sugarcane and jute. The cash crops are often grown as secondary crops while rice is regarded as the main food grain in the district. Apart from affecting food grains, the flood has also taken a toll on vegetables in many areas making them expensive.
“From June to September, we were left looking towards the skies for rain and could not take up cultivation because of the drought. Now, when rains started pouring, the floods have come as a bolt from the blue and left us devastated,” lamented Alok Swain, a farmer of Binjarpur, whose three-acre paddy field has been inundated and he finds no way to recover from the crisis.
“It is a difficult time for the farmers now. The impact of the crop losses will surely be felt in the economy of farmers and they will find it hard to recover from this blow,” said Gayadhar Dhal, a farmer of Badachana.
“The process of rescheduling crop loans, announced after the flood, has not yet been started and now the banks will be required to complete all formalities so that the farmers could avail of fresh crop loans,” said a senior officer of district agriculture office.
“Food security and livelihoods have been severely hit in the flood-hit areas. Agricultural production is the main source of livelihood in the affected area and this season’s rice harvest has been badly damaged, leading to increased food insecurity. The flooding came just two months before fields were to be harvested for the paddy. In many flood-hit villages, water hyacinth — regarded as the world’s worst water weed - was washed into the fields with the flood waters. You can’t do anything but wait for the weed to die. Taking it out will be a colossal expenditure,” said Umesh Chandra Singh, a farmer leader.
Elsewhere, when the paddy was under water for two to three days, the harvest was either destroyed or will be woefully low.
“The paddy can look fine, but if it was under water for over a day there will be no harvest,” said Prakash Swain, a farmer of Bari. With paddy crop having suffered a major damage in the flood, prices of rice has shot up by a minimum of Rs 300 to 400 per quintal over the last week as unscrupulous traders have got back to hoarding.
The price of rice in retail market has jumped from Rs 17 a kg to Rs 20 to Rs 22 a kg for the preferred varieties. Rice stocks are not freely available even at enhanced price as a section of millers and wholesale traders have joined hands to create an artificial scarcity in the wake of reports that paddy production is likely to fall due to flood.