Crop damage due to unseasonal rains claim lives of two farmers in Odisha
KENDRAPARA/BERHAMPUR: Widespread damage to standing crops by the unseasonal rains has claimed lives of two farmers across the state which is in the midst of kharif paddy procurement.
A sharecropper ended his life in Ganjam while another farmer died of shock in Kendrapara after watching his paddy harvest destroyed by the showers. Both the incidents were reported on Wednesday.
In Ganjam’s Chatrapur block, a 64-year-old farmer of Barang village under Badamadhapur panchayat allegedly died by suicide over the crop loss. The farmer, Banamali Penthei had raised paddy over five acres of land on a sharecropping basis but saw his hard work washed away by the relentless rains.
A father of three daughters and a son, Banamali had borrowed around ₹2 lakh from private lenders for the cultivation. On the morning of the incident, he visited his farmland to find the paddy fields submerged in water. Distraught, he returned home and took his life by hanging himself in the bathroom outside of his house. His sister, Apasara recounted that Banamali had been deeply worried about repaying his loans.
