After flood, Orissa faces semi-drought condition

The Hindu, 12th November, 2008

After devastating floods, Orissa now faces another calamity in the form of semi-drought condition due to moisture stress causing crop loss in large areas of cultivated land, official sources said on Tuesday.
"At least 16 of the state's 30 districts are facing moisture stress leading to semi-drought condition", Agriculture Minister S N Nayak told reporters.
Worried over crop loss report in about 2.86 Lakh hectare of land, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik issued directive to the water resource department to energise all the defunct lift irrigation (LI) points within seven days.
Making LI points functional was the last option left for the government to save the remaining crops in the affected districts, an official said adding Patnaik also issued orders to facilitate farmers to undertake cultivation in a massive way during the rabi season.
The districts affected by moisture stress condition were: Balasore, Balangir, Sonepur, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nowrangpur, Rayagada, Mayurbhanj, Khurda, Nayagarh, Bargarh and Sundergarh.
"Tribal dominated Malkangiri was identified as the worst affected district", Nayak said adding an area of 61,560 hectare of land reported crop loss. Nayagarh came second in the list with 52,060 hectare of land reporting crop loss.
Moisture stress condition was felt in most of the hilly regions across the southern and western parts of the state while the flood affected coastal districts remained unaffected, an official said.