Paddy damaged due to poor rainfall, Nuapada farmers migrating out months earlier than usual

Migration of labourers from Odisha’s Nuapada district has started early this year. “People usually start leaving in December-January. But this year, they have started early, especially those who have faced loss in paddy crop due to less rainfall in July and August," said Hitesh Bagartti, former MLA of Khariar constituency. 

In July 2023, the district received 228.8 millimetres of rainfall, which is about 14 per cent lower than normal for the month, an analysis of the district’s rainfall data showed. 

The rainfall wasn’t evenly distributed across the district. Khariar and Sinapali block got about 35 per cent less rainfall. 

In August, the departure was 30 per cent less than the normal of 327.8 mm. With only seven moderate rainy days, the district received only 229 mm against the normal 327.8 mm of rainfall for the month. 

The district is facing a water shortage due to a long dry spell of 16 days. In Khariar block, the spell continued for 25 days and some other blocks saw 20 days of no rainfall. 

This condition severely impacted the paddy crops on medium (level) land, which is about 40 per cent of the total paddy area in the district. Most of the agricultural land in Boden and Sinapali blocks of the district are unirrigated, where medium paddy land has been majorly hit.

Kusumjor, Jharbandha and some other Gram Panchayats of Sinapali and Boden blocks bordering Chhattisgarh have been affected, the agriculture department officials confirmed following a field visit. 

The affected area in the four bordering Gram Panchayats of Sinapali block would be about 3,000 acres, according to Udit Jyoti, the sarpanch of Kusumjor.

The mounting losses have forced the poor local farmers to accept advance money from labour contractors, both Udit and Bagartti shared. “You will find labour contractors in every village, there is one sardar (contractor) for every 20-30 labourers,” said Bagartti. 

Many workers in villages like Patdarha, Rundi and Pelnapada of Bhainsadani Panchayat and different villages of Kusumjor, Nangalbod, Nuamalpada and Nagpada Panchayats had taken advance money to meet the expenses of Nuakhai (a traditional agricultural festival of Western Odisha), he noted, adding:

Most of them have left and others will be proceeding to their destinations in Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the next few weeks.

"The sardar has assured us Rs 50,000 per person this year if we go next week and work till March-April. We have been paid only the advance amount. Our families will be given the rest of the money once we reach the destination,” said a tribal migrant of Patdarha, who didn't want his name to be mentioned. "If there is a delay in the starting date, the total payment will be reduced to Rs 40,000.”

Four buses are running from Sinapali of Nuapada district to Hyderabad covering some 700 kilometres with about 100 persons daily, most of them are migrant workers going to work in brick kilns and different construction sites,” said Ariganjan Joshi from Sinapali.

Some villagers like Rabi Dharua and Mathura Dharua from Belpada village will stay back a little longer to complete the construction of the house sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), a central housing scheme. 

Rabi said he will be paid Rs 40,000 to work for six months. His elder brother has already migrated to Andhra Pradesh after Nuakhai taking an advance of 50 thousand rupees. "His marriage has been fixed next year, so we are saving money for that," Rabi shared. 

Construction of houses under PMAY is going on in most panchayats in the district after a gap of almost two years due to COVID-19 pandemic. More than 41,000 work orders were distributed to PMAY beneficiaries in July-August this year, according to District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) data.

Under the PMAY-Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme convergence programme, each house would generate 95 person days of employment, which is sufficient to keep the family members of beneficiaries engaged in construction work atleast for one to two months. 

Those engaged in their house construction may not be leaving early. "In some cases, beneficiaries with more than two workers in the family have also taken advances to purchase construction materials. One of the members will migrate as soon as the slab casting is completed,” informed Bagartti.

Some migrants have decided to wait till the paddy is harvested. Manglu Chinda and Bharat Chinda of Kaptiam village of Bhainsadani Panchayat had taken an advance of Rs 10,000 each before Nuakhai. They will get Rs 50,000 on reaching the worksite in October last week after harvesting of Dussehra paddy. Some other migrants of this village have planned to go after harvesting paddy in December. 

Last year, the number of migrants was 10,000, according to the District Labour Officer. “The Anganwadi Centres have the actual figures. We have numbers for those who were registered through the 44 registered labour contractors,” he said. 

A district level meeting under the chairmanship of the district collector was held September 27 this year to discuss the various issues on migration. Points like how to make the migration safe and making the migrants aware of registration were brought up. 

“Everyone knows what the actual number is and how safe the migration is. What is the problem in collecting data from the AWCs to get the clear picture? The administration as well as the government know very well that violation of rules can only generate black money,” said Sanjay Tiwari, a farmer leader of Khariar.

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