Chhattisgarh govt cuts acreage of paddy to zero for coming rabi season

The state wants to encourage farmers for crop diversification and go for wheat, gram, and peas in this season

In yet another move to discourage paddy and encourage farmers for crop diversification, the Chhattisgarh government has reduced the acreage of summer paddy to zero for the coming rabi season 2022-23. The state has, however, set a target to take rabi crops in 1.92 million hectares of land. 
 

“The target of summer paddy area has been reduced to zero in the crop-sowing programme set by the agriculture department for the rabi season this year,” a state government spokesperson said. The decision is seen as yet another attempt of the state government to prevent the farmers from taking paddy in Chhattisgarh that has been once known as the rice-bowl of the country. The state wants to propel the farmers for crop diversification and go for wheat, gram, and peas in this season. 
 

In the last season, farmers had cultivated summer paddy in 222,170 hectares in the state. Earlier, the Bhupesh Baghel-led government had announced to procure arhar (pigeon pea), moong (green gram), and urad (black gram) at minimum support prices (MSPs) in the kharif marketing season 2022-23. The procurement started last month. 
 

Farmers are getting Rs 6,600 per quintal for moong and urad and Rs 7,755 per quintal for arhar. The procurement will be made through the Chhattisgarh State Co-operative Marketing Federation (Markfed).
 

Chief Minister Baghel had said the procurement of the crops at support price would give a boost to the income of farmers, who would now have the option to sell arhar, moong, and urad crops wherever they get a higher price. The state had reduced paddy acreage even for the kharif marketing season 2022-23. As against last season’s 3.8 million hectares, paddy was sown in 3.3 million hectares in the current kharif-marketing season.
 

The decision of zero cultivation of summer paddy was taken even during the tenure of the BJP government led by Raman Singh in 2017. Chhattisgarh has banned farmers from growing rabi paddy crops as severe drought hit the state. The state government had come out with firm decisions, warning no water supply and even disconnecting electricity supply if the farmers still opted for paddy.
 

In September 2017, Chhattisgarh had declared 96 tehsils as drought-hit. Most of the reservoirs had water levels below the average mark. For the summer paddy, farmers depend on the canal irrigation after water is released from the reservoirs. The government had clarified that providing water for drinking and other purposes had been the top priority in such a situation.