Ganjam farmers demand sponsorship, cold storage.
Sergad: Farmers under Sergad block in Ganjam district have demanded the state gov- ernment to ensure sponsorship along with cold storage facili- ties so that they continue yam cul- tivation in the area.
The Sergad block has carved a niche for itself in yam cultivation and the Gobindapur village under the block can be termed as the hub of the crop with the farmers car- rying out cultivation over 2,000 hectare of land.
Apart from Gobindapur, the cultivation has now spread to Dengapadar, Dhanantar, Gothagaon, Marudi, Narendrapur and Baliarsinghpur villages.
The cultivation starts from the month of June and contin- ues till March. The harvest of the tuber starts from the month of December.
However, with the tuber har- vested in lot, farmers find it dif- ficult to store them due to lack of cold storages in the area. To check the harvested tuber from rotting, farmers trans- port their harvest daily to dis- tricts like Cuttack and Khurda and other big towns and urban areas of the state. As a result, the profit margin declines as they are compelled to sell their harvests before the tuber starts rotting. This is the very reason why farmers are fast turning away from yam cultivation.
They have demanded the state government to intervene and provide them with modern agricultural techniques as well as supply fertilisers, seeds and establishment of a cold storage in their area which will help in bringing back re- luctant farmers towards tuber cultivation.
