By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 14, 2016 : Paddy cultivation in Odisha has been seriously hit in the 2015-16 kharif season.As against 88 lakh tons of paddy harvested, only 45.50 lakh tons of paddy has been harvested this year, 

Going by the crop-cutting reports submitted by the district collectors to the state governemnt, it is estimated that the farmers in the state have lost nearly 60 lakh tons of paddy or 42 lakh tons of rice valued at Rs 8,000 crore.

According to sources in the state agriculture department, the government has received crop cutting reports from all the districts. The reports suggest that paddy in all non-irrigated lands have completely been damaged. Similarly, the rate harvest in irrigated land has declined considerably.

The rate of production in irrigated land has come down from 22 quintals per hectares to 12 to 13 quintals. Paddy cultivation was taken up in 38,82,570 hectares. In at least 55 per cent of the total cultivated land, the crop has been damaged.

Basing on the eye-estimation report, the state had set a target to get 61.17 lakh tons of rice in the kharif season. The state government had 215 blocks in 26 districts as drought-hit and special drought-redressal programmes are being taken up in these areas.

All the district collectors were asked to submit their crop-cutting reports by January 15. In 2014-15 kharif season, paddy crop was taken up in 36.55 lakh hectares of land. At least 88 lakh of paddy was produced that year.