Bargarh: Frustrated and heartbroken at the sight of his watermelon farming partially damaged by the recent hailstorm and half of the produce hit by distress sale, a farmer ran a tractor on the watermelons spared on the land.
Sources said, scores of farmers in this western Odisha district have been badly affected by crop loss due to unseasonal rains.
Khirod Muna had grown watermelon on his three-acre land at Kudopali under the Padampur sub-division.
“I had invested Rs 95,000 for watermelon farming. I had expected a good harvest this year. But the hailstorm played spoilsport for two days. The crop could not grow up to standard size,” Khirod said.
He further added that when he started selling the remaining watermelons on the farm, traders did not pay a reasonable price for the crop.
“I thought it better to damage the crop than resort to distress sale. I ran over the tractor on the remaining crop,” he said.
Like Khirod, many other farmers in the area, who have been affected by hailstorm and distress sale, are living under stranied circumstances.
