30,000 hectares affected by pest attack

About 30,000 hectares of cultivated land have been affected by the pest attack in Orissa. The districts which are affected are Sambalpur, Baragarh and Sundergarh, said state agriculture minister, Damodar Rout.

Before leaving for New Delhi to attend the national conference on drought situation convened by the Union agriculture minister, Sarad Pawar tomorrow, Rout said, the pest attack is spreading like an epidemic and steps are being taken to arrest the menace.

Pesticide sprayers are being provided to farmers at 50 percent subsidy and all preventive measures have been taken. The government has asked the officials to take up intensive field visits to assess the damages. This is expected to help the government to work out the modalities to assist the affected farmers, Rout added.

In the face of late onset of the monsoon and sporadic rainfall, the coverage of khariff crop was up to 95 percent. However, some blocks in certain districts were badly affected.

The minister said, after late rains, the farmers have gone for transplantation in fallow lands. However, some blocks like Tileibeni of Deogarh district and some areas in Sambalpur and Sundergarh district couldn’t be taken up for cultivation under khariff crops.

Though there was drought like situation in some of the western and northern districts of the state, things improved subsequently due to the rain in last one week. However, the recent pest attack is a cause of concern.

Rout was optimistic that the state will have surplus food production this year and the overall output may be impacted by about 5 percent only.