Odisha: Cyclone Amphan flattens betel farms in coastal districts

KENDRAPADA: Heavy rain in the past three days has damaged vegetable and betel crops in and Jagatsinghpur districts. “We have lost our vegetable crop. All the crops have been destroyed. Now returning the bank loan is a huge problem for us,” said Jagannath Sahoo, 45, a farmer of Mahakalpada.
Farmer leaders blamed the faulty agriculture policy of the government for being responsible for the woes of farmers.“Their crops are never insured. As a result of which, they suffer in natural disasters like flood, cyclone and drought,” said Umesh Chandra Singh, president of Krusak Sabha, district unit. He said the government is yet to frame a concrete policy to insure agriculture lands.
Amphan also hit the economy of around 10,000 betel-vine farmers in Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur districts. “Had there been no cyclone, we would have been harvesting our betel crops,” said Niranjan Swain, a 47-year-old farmer of Dhinkia village in Jagatsinghpur district.
Also it has become difficult for farners to get returns on their investment in crops. “I spent around Rs 2 lakh to build the betel farms and plant the saplings over one acre of land. But the entire betel vine has been razed in the cyclone,” said Sankar Mallick of Gobindapur village in Jagatsinghpur district.
Information and public relations minister Raghunandan Das visited the affected areas in Jagatsinghpur district on Friday. “The state government will assess the damage to crops in the next three days and survey the damage to houses and buildings in a week. All cyclone-hit farmers will be provided with loans from the government, cooperative societies and other financial organisations. Seeds will also be provided to all the affected farmers,” said the minister.