New year, same struggle: Odisha farmers still trapped in mandi chaos

Rayagada: The calendar has turned but nothing has changed for Odisha’s farmers. Even as the new year begins, paddy growers continue to battle delays, mismanagement, and official apathy. Harvested grain lies unsold as token delays and chaos at the procurement centres have only deepened farmers’ worries

Located along the Andhra–Odisha border, this is the situation in Kereda village in Rayagada tehsil of Rayagada district where quintals of paddy can be seen lying exposed under the open sky.

In some cases, the harvested paddy remain scattered in the fields while in others, farmers have piled it up along village roads. The reason is simple: farmers have no personal storage space to keep their produce. They had hoped to take their harvested paddy to the mandi and sell it. Despite the mandis opening over two weeks ago, farmers have not received tokens leaving them with no option but to keep their harvested paddy exposed under the open sky.

Harvest without hope

The crisis extends beyond Rayagada. Similar scenes of mandi mismanagement have surfaced in Nabarangpur district, where procurement began nearly two months late and yet paddy lifting remains stalled. Farmers are spending sleepless nights in the cold and heavy dew, guarding their produce at mandis.

Harvest season is meant to bring relief and reward for months of hard labour. Instead, for farmers, it has become a period marked by anxiety and uncertainty. The year has ended and the calendar turned anew but on the ground, little has changed—the farmer’s struggle continues, unresolved and unseen.

Also read: Nabarangpur farmers launch indefinite strike over distress sale of maize, irregularities in paddy procurement