Amid an already crisis-hit situation, a recent pest attack on paddy crop has wreaked havoc on the farmers of Chhattisgarh. By Shravan Hurra
Farmers across the country have been protesting against the Centre’s farm reform laws, particularly and more extensively, in Punjab and Haryana. Majority of farmers, on one hand, are unable to accept the new reforms and on the other, are suffering huge losses due to unpredictable weather conditions. The problems are several with no solution in sight.
Drought and erratic monsoons have been a major concern for farmers across the states but this year, farmers in rural regions of the eastern state of Chhattisgarh are struggling hard to protect their ready-to-harvest crops from pests. The reason behind this sudden pest infestation on crops is the rainfall in October and the brunt is being faced by farmers — specially the small-holding farmers. According to the District Agriculture Department, outbreaks of pests have been observed in approximately 10 per cent of the total crops in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh.
The farmers of Ghota village in Bhanupratapur block, located about 50 km from the district headquarters in Kanker, are worried about their crops being damaged. Inhabited by merely 1,500 people, almost everyone in this village relies upon agriculture. Despite the unfavourable weather conditions in the initial half of the sowing season, farmers were hopeful of a good yield this year and a good monsoon held their hopes high. The rainfall in the months of August and September was helpful but the extended rainfall in October along with a strong sunlight made the environment too humid, leading to pest infestation. As a result, the standing crop of paddy began drying up. The troubled farmers are using different types of medicines to save the paddy from diseases like stem borer, blast fungus and manage the presence of brown plant hopper. To the disappointment of the farmers, none of their efforts have shown positive results so far.
Well, it’s not just the crop they have to worry about. Most of the farmers, especially the small-holding ones, take loan every year to sow the crops and return the debt after selling the harvest. This year, too, many had taken loan but looking at the current situation, the chances of returning the loan on time looks feeble.
Chaituram Uikey, a farmer in the village who had taken a loan of Rs 60,000 from the large-sized Adivasi Multipurpose Society (LAMPS), said, “During the plantation of paddy, there was no rain. We somehow managed that time-hoping for a good yield but now when it is about time to harvest the crop, the unseasonal rains have wreaked havoc on us. Forget about repaying the loan, looking at the extent of damage, I don’t think I will have enough to run my house this year.”
Gangabai Chakradhari, another farmer from the same village, is worried that this year she might not be able to repay her loan of Rs 35,000. The pest attack might result into lesser crop production than last year, forcing Gangabai to extend the time period for the repayment of loan to the next year. She is now worried about the interest, which she will have to continue paying along with managing her other everyday expenses.
There are many farmers like Gangabai who are concerned about repaying even small amounts of loan and have started looking for other sources of livelihood to return the debt. “I have taken a loan of Rs 30,000 from the LAMPS. I thought that I would repay the loan within a year but this crop loss of 40 to 50 per cent in my field has left me devastated. I will now have to work for daily wages to repay the debt,” shared Ankalram Hurra, another affected farmer from the village. Ankalram has no faith in the crop insurance mechanism as he has not yet received compensation for the crop damage that he had suffered in 2016.
When asked about the situation, the Village Head, Ramprasad Kavade said that no support has been received from the Agriculture Department this year. “No officials have visited the village so far. Earlier, Gram Sevak would occasionally visit the village and would share useful information with the farmers but this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we haven’t seen him in a long time. I have taken a loan of Rs 1 lakh and now, I landed in a huge debt crisis due to the pest attacks.”
Explaining the official stance, Kiran Kumar Bhandari, the Rural Agricultural Extension Officer of the region, shared, “The weather has led to pest infestation in the paddy crop in the entire district, damaging 10 per cent of the total crops. Farmers in Ghota village are too facing similar challenges. They have been advised to spray medicines to minimise the damage. Farmers who have insured their crops will receive the benefit if the damage is more than 30 per cent of their total crop.”
Life of farmers has always been full of challenges and that too at different fronts. On one hand, while many have been waiting for policies that benefit them directly and get them the right price for their hard work, on the other, many keep suffering the damage caused by recurring and extensive natural hazards like drought, excessive rainfall, floods, and thunderstorms.
The country’s agriculture sector accounts for around 14 per cent of the country’s economy and 42 per cent of total employment sector. In these unprecedented times of the global pandemic of COVID-19, agriculture has been the only sector to grow for April-June 2020 and contribute to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Well, growth of this sector is certainly vital for our country and that is enough of a reason to hear the plight of the farmers.
—Charkha Features