Bhubaneswar: Floods destroy veggies, prices soar

BHUBANESWAR: Ravaging floods in Mahanadi and its tributaries have ruined crops in thousands of hectares of agricultural land leaving farmers engaged in cultivating vegetables and pulses devastated. The floods have led to a hike in prices of vegetables while vendors are apprehending a further hike and even supply crunch in the coming months.
Farmers in Athagarh and Banki areas in Cuttack district who have been growing seasonal vegetables like tomatoes, cucumber, beans, chillies, brinjal, ridge gourd, bitter gourd, parval, have incurred heavy losses as floodwaters have inundated their fields.
Rajkishore Das, a farmer of Gopalpur village, said almost all the vegetables in his village have been destroyed. Plants are submerged for around five days now. “I had taken a loan to buy seeds and grow vegetables. Now that everything is damaged, how will I repay the loans?” he asked. Das has cultivated vegetables in five acres of land.
The farmers said they had not seen such floods in the village in the past 10 years. The floodwaters of Mahanadi river and its tributaries have affected 12 districts and wreaked havoc in Puri, Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts.
“Once the water recedes, it will take time to prepare the farmland for new plantation. The new crops will take a couple of months to be ready for harvest,” said Gagan Sahu, a vegetable farmer of Niali area in Cuttack.
The impact of floods can be felt in city markets as prices of all vegetables have almost doubled. Tomato that was selling at Rs 20 per kg last week is selling at Rs 40 per kg, Ladies finger, ridge gourd, cucumber are selling at Rs 80 per kg on Thursday while vegetables like bitter gourd, beans, capsicum are selling at Rs 100 per kg.