By SANTOSH MOHANTY
The number of farmers are on the decline in Angul district giving an indication that people have lost their interest in agricultural activities.
District Agriculture Office sources said 46304 farmers have registered their names for selling paddy to the government this year. The number of peasants who have registered their names for this purpose last year was 48968. If one is to go by the statistics, then in 2021-22 the number was 39195, in 2022-23 the number rose to 44,101. The District Agriculture Office sources futher said that there was a tremendous increase in the number of farmers in the district during the past three years, but this year there was less number of registration of peasants with the office.
This was not immediately know why the number of farmers in the district has come down drastically despite a favourable monsoon this year which has ensured a bumper crop harvest. However, when contacted, a number of farmers in Sankhapur, Bantala and other area in Angul district, said elephant menace in the region has dissuaded them from agriculture activity. The jumbos have been destroying their crop over the years, and therefore, they have decided not to undertake cultivation, the farmers added.
Reports from Mahidharpur under Banarpal block in Angul district said that a horde of elephant headed by deadly tuskers have been rampaging paddy fields in the past few months leaving the agrarian community scratching their heads. The farmers have alleged that the forest officials are doing nothing to drive away the marauding jumbos to forest locations.
Local environmentalists although admitted that the elephant issue is somewhat responsible for decline in the number of farmers, rapid industrialization has also to be blamed for such a scenario. They reasoned thast contamination of air,water and soil in Angul district has adversely affected agriculture production in most parts. The rivers like Brahmani has been polluted due to discharge of effluents from smoke belching thermal power plants, aluminium industries and other ancillary units located in the district.
