The sugarcane growers in south Orissa’s Ganjam district, on Wednesday, urged the visiting Central team to make relief provisions for them like the paddy cultivators.
Along with paddy and other crops, sugarcane cultivation in hundreds of acres was damaged due to the untimely rains in the district in the first week of this month, the Ganjam District Sugarcane Growers Association told the four-member Central team, who visited the district.
The four-member team led by Pankaj Kumar, joint secretary, Union ministry of agriculture, toured several rain-hit areas to assess the crop damage in the district. The team visited Kukudakhandi, Hinjili, Sheragada, Aska and Bhanjanagar blocks in the second day of his two-day tour to the district.
Another official team of the Central government toured Bargarh district after completing their visit to Bolangir district. “We have apprised the visiting team on the plight of the sugarcane growers in the district and have pleaded for assistance from the Centre to the sugarcane farmers who have suffered loss due to the unseasonal rains”, said Samir Pradhan, general secretary of the association.
Sugarcane cultivation was done on around 3600 hectares of land in the district. However, the loss of sugarcane has not been assessed by the agriculture department so far, sources said.