Scanty rainfall: 40,000 pump sets for Odisha farmers

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jul 13:

Anticipating a drought-like situation owing to deficient rain in some areas, the Odisha government on Monday decided to provide 40, 000 water pumps to farmers at a subsidised rate, seeds and fertilisers.

At least 111 of the 314 blocks in the state have received deficient rainfall as of now.

“The state government has decided to provide 40,000 water pumps to farmers in rainfall-deficient areas at a subsidy of Rs 15,000 on each pump set,” said agriculture secretary Rajesh Verma.

It was decided in a meeting presided over by Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati held at state secretariat.

The chief secretary has issued direction to the Energy department to provide power supply to 13,000 deep bore wells before August 15, Verma informed.

In addition to this, the Cooperation and Agriculture departments have been told to ensure that farmers get adequate seeds which require less water, fertilisers and other essential items for cultivation, he added.

Though the average rainfall in the month of June and till now in July have been normal, 111 blocks have received less than normal rainfall. Only 76 blocks got rainfall more than average while 127 blocks got normal rainfall, the agriculture secretary said.