Maize, pulses to gain in Bihar

Rain shortage may hit rice output for second consecutive season.

The rain gods have played spoilsport for paddy farmers in Bihar. With a deficit of about 21 per cent, the chances of meeting the target of more than seven million tonnes (mt) rice production looks grim. The only saving grace is the yield of maize and pulses, which is expected to be normal.

Sowing for paddy has been severely affected. “We expected that almost 1.6 million hectares should have been covered by now, but due to deficit and scattered rainfall, sowing has been done only on 0.8 m ha till now,” said Ashok Kumar Sinha, principal secretary of the agriculture department.

“However, we are hopeful this will improve, as sowing continues till the last week of August in some part of the state.” The government had a target of 3.5 m ha for paddy.

Targets are being reviewed. Sinha said, “It will take almost a fortnight before we can say anything.” His department accepts it will be very difficult to achieve even the normal rice output of five mt.

Last year, too, the deficit rainfall forced a revision of estimates. Last year, the total coverage was of 2.3 m ha and the production was 3.07 mt during the kharif season.

However, the production of maize and pulses, especially arhar, is expected to be normal. ‘The land under the maize corps is in sync with our targets. We expect an above normal production of maize this year,” said Sinha.

During this kharif season, the agriculture department expects maize production of 1 mt, higher than the target of 0.9 mt from 0.38 m ha set for the crop.

Officials say better rates and deficit rainfall have led many paddy farmers to switch to maize and arhar. These need much less water. Officials expect an ouput of 160,000 tonnes of arhar this season, from 125,000 hectares.