The absence of sufficient cold storage in north Bihar districts has hit hundreds of farmers hard even as they fought the disasters of drought and cyclone in the past few months.

Ranbir Singh of Dhanusi village on the Muzaffarpur-Vaishali-Hajipur road had 70 per cent of his standing paddy crops over four acres of land destroyed by cyclone Phailin in October and he could not implant seedling on the rest of his three acres because of severe drought that preceded the storm. “I have so far got only the first lot of subsidy on irrigation against the government’s claim that it has paid the same for four lots,” Ranbir said, adding: “We are running from the pillar to post to get the rest three lots of subsidy but to no avail.”

Be it Ranbir of Dhanusi, Dilip Singh of Namadih or Jaiprakash Sahu of Ghotaro on the fertile stretch capped with green litchi, banana and mango trees from Muzaffarpur to Vaishali - the farmers are grappling with the damage caused by the long spell of drought during July and August followed by Phailin in October.

Known for the fabulous production of litchi, banana, mangoes, paddy, potato, wheat and maize the north Bihar’s region today has farmers battling with destruction caused by two spells of natural calamities - drought and cyclone. “We are still dependent on nature to rescue or destroy us. The government has seldom stepped in to help us either with finance or with tools, storage facilities, seeds and fertilisers,” said Satyendra Singh of Namadih.

A few farmers in the agriculture-rich ubiquitous villages on the Muzaffarpur-Vaishali-Hajipur highway were even remotely aware of the ambitious agriculture roadmap (2012-15) that chief minister Nitish Kumar got President Pranab Mukherjee to inaugurate with much fanfare here on October 3, 2012.

The cardinal features of the roadmap involving 18 government departments included the building of Rs 1,799.50-crore Gandak canal project phase II that will irrigate vast tracts of farmlands in Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Vaihali, Sitamarhi, East Champaran and West Champaran districts, setting up of agriculture cooperatives, opening chains of cold storages and warehouses to ensure long retention of the produce, survey and consolidation of the lands besides providing market access and credit to the farmers.

The work on the mega Gandak canal project phase II, which the first President Rajendra Prasad had envisioned and which Nitish thought of building, is yet to begin.

Anger writ large, the farmers ubbish the promises made in the roadmap. “We were forced to sell our potato at the rate of Rs 300 per quintal last year for we had no storage facility nearby. Now we are buying potato to eat at the rate of Rs 30 per kg,” said Dilip of Namadih.