SAMBALPUR: The Agriculture department has trained 50 persons from the district to operate combine harvesters to help farmers engaged in rabi paddy harvesting.
Chief District Agriculture Officer Santosh Ray said training was imparted to 50 tractor drivers and helpers at Gunderpur in Maneswar block. There are around 250 combine harvesters and 150 persons trained to operate them in the district.
Apart from the trained local combine harvester drivers, the district depends on around 100 drivers from Punjab and Haryana to operate the rest of the machines.
However, due to the nationwide lockdown, the drivers from Punjab and Haryana did not arrive in the district this year. In a bid to overcome the crisis, the Agriculture department decided to train locals to operate the machines.
The district depends on agricultural labourers during cultivation and harvesting of paddy. The combine harvester has its own limitations as it cannot harvest paddy in lowlands.
With restriction on movement of the farm labourers from Chhattisgarh, farmers of the district are carrying out paddy harvesting with the help of local workers. Shortage of labourers is set to delay the paddy harvesting process this year.
As per reports, paddy has been cultivated over 14,630 hectare land in the district with production target of 87,780 metric tonne (MT) during the Rabi season.