With 40 per cent rain deficit, Jharkhand farmers asked to opt short-term paddy varieties

The state government has taken initial steps to protect the farmers from the impact of deficient rainfall that has drastically reduced the sowing of all Kharif crops particularly paddy whose sowing is less than 15 per cent of the normal.

“The agriculture minister held a meeting yesterday to review the situation of rainfall and sowing. The deficit in rainfall is more than 40 per cent. It has impacted the sowing of crops,” Jharkhand Agriculture Secretary Aboobacker Siddique told lagatar24.com.

Siddique said that sowing of most of the Kharif crops have been less than 50 per cent and the worst impact has been on paddy with less than 15 per cent sowing as against the last year sowing till date. Various alternatives are being suggested to the farmers.

Heavy rain forecast in northern Jharkhand today

“The farmers are being told to go for alternative crops other than paddy to protect their income. In case of paddy, they are being suggested to use the short duration varieties. The idea is to protect their productivity if the rainfall situation does not improve.

“However, the sowing potential for paddy is still there till August 15. There are chances that the rainfall improves in the next two weeks,” the agriculture secretary said.

Considering the peak sowing season for paddy ends in July and the state is witnessing an average 50 per cent deficiency in rainfall, state agriculture minister Badal Patralekh had an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

Patralekh has asked the officials and agriculture scientists to prepare a comprehensive report after studying the situation in all the 24 districts. Based on it, an action plan will be decided for short and long term relief to farmers.

Jharkhand’s rain deficit touches 51%; fear of drought looms large in several districts

Abhishek Anand, the in-charge of Ranchi Meteorological Centre, said, “The situation is bad with rainfall deficiency of 50 per cent. Twenty two of the 24 districts in the state are facing deficiency. Nine districts are facing a deficiency of more than 60 per cent.”

Senior agriculture scientist at Birsa Agriculture University (BAU) Dr PK Singh said, “The condition of paddy farmers is not good. A contingency planning has to be done. Apart from alternative crops, certain technologies that use less water for sowing can be applied.”