The dream Tulsi Tandi of Kotenmunda village of Nuapada district cherished for over two months to harvest a good crop from his capsicum cultivation was shattered just in ten minutes. The shed nets and the plants were devastated by a storm on Friday at about 8 pm.
“The wind suddenly came and torn the shed net screens and even uprooted the poles, and all the plants were destroyed,” lamented informed Tulsi, whose farm now wears a deserted look.
The capsicum cultivation was started by Tulsi this year with the support of the Horticulture Department. He was harvesting about a quintal of capsicum every day from 9,000 plants. He had spent about Rs 10 lakh from his own pocket for construction of two shed nets and developing the irrigation system (drips and shower) inside that. An additional Rs one lakh had been invested for the inputs like seeds, nutrients and labour.
“Everything was destroyed in 10 minutes, the shed net, plants and my dreams,” added Tulsi. A story on his success was published a few days ago in The Pioneer and Tulsi had received a lot of accolades from many people for his endeavour. He was receiving supply orders every day. “I had received orders for two quintals of capsicum yesterday from the retailers of Khariar and Kantabanji. The storm arrived after a few minutes of collecting the stock,” said he.
Tulsi unfortunately did not know that his capsicum could have been insured. That would have saved him from the loss. The Horticulture Department as well as the district administration have been informed about the loss.