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| Monsoon hopes elude Orissa farmers |
| The first monsoon showers are expected sooner than later.
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| INDIA
, 1-June-2007
2:1:7 AM |
| The monsoon is likely to hit Orissa in the next seven to 10 days but for farmers there's hardly anything to look forward to.
Met predictions suggest it will be less than an average monsoon and that can spell doom for most farmers in the state who depend almost entirely on rains for their staple crop paddy.
Nabkishore Bhutia, a farmer of Shampur village in Orissa's Khurda district is ready for a brand new paddy season.
The first monsoon showers are expected sooner than later.
The 38-year-old owns less than an acre of land, which is entirely rain-fed but he's worried.
''If you have 100 days of rain it's a good monsoon. But if it's a 50-day affair you will have uneven rains resulting in drought and crop loss,'' says Nabakishore.
Blame policies
Nabkishore feels the state government's policies have never favoured farmers.
Farmers say the daily wage for labourers has been hiked to Rs 70-80 but there is no relief for them.
''The government offers subsidies worth thousands of crores to big industries but not a pie to farmers. So we have to sell paddy and rice to be able to invest money in farming. And in bad times we are forced to sell it at throw away prices.''
''Many farmers are selling off their plots because agriculture has become a loss-making and debt ridden business. I think in the next few years, agriculture will perish completely,'' he further says.
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