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Encephalitis scare: Litchi farmers distressed

The market sentiment is against the fruit at this moment and hence nothing will convince traders as well as consumers, observed the official.

Encephalitis scare: Litchi farmers distressed

Representational Image (PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)

Litchi farmers of Kuchinda in Sambalpur and parts of Deogarh district are in distress. While litchis vanished from the market overnight due to panic caused by the Muzaffarpur deaths in Bihar and the fruit being the suspect, farmers of Kuchinda in Sambalpur and parts of bordering Deogarh district who grow the fruit find it difficult to sell their produce.

The word spread that litchi was the cause of encephalitis death in Muzaffarpur of Bihar and Odisha government had also ordered collection of samples for tests. Overnight the fruit disappeared from the market places in different parts of the state. The litchi grown in Sambalpur and Deogarh comes to the market at the end of the season while the early ones are from West Bengal and Bihar, the deputy director of horticulture (DDH) RK Dasmohapatra said.

He explained that there is no cause of panic or worry over litchis grown locally and in Deogarh as the farmers do not use hormone or pesticides etc. The litchi here are safe, moreover, there is no evidence that the fruit is the cause of encephalitis even in Bihar, he added. “Farmers here also send their produce to Kolkata through agents and they have not got a single complaint”, he informed.

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He admitted that the farmers of Kuchinda and Deogarh this time had to face a big loss as people are suspicious of litchis of any variety and any place now.

The market sentiment is against the fruit at this moment and hence nothing will convince traders as well as consumers, observed the official.

Meanwhile, the CDMO of Sambalpur Dr. Pankajini Panda, on instructions from the state health department, has directed the health officials in sub divisional and block levels to carry out sample tests and sensitise people, particularly children, not to eat the fruit till the cloud of suspicion is cleared.

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