Prospect of rabi crop poor in Ganjam

After a bad kharif season due to fickle monsoon, the prospect of rabi crops does not appear to be poor for various reasons in Ganjam district.
Due to lack of soil moisture, the district administration has already reduced the rabi crop area by 70 per cent compared to that in the last rabi.
Against 2.86 lakh hectares covered during the previous rabi, this year the administration has targeted to raise various crops, mainly non-paddy ones, in 96,000 hectares.
It was decided at the district strategy committee meeting for the rabi held at the district headquarters town of Chhatrapur on Tuesday. Ganjam Collector P C Chaudhary presided over the meeting.

"We have lowered the targeted area this time due to lack of moisture in the soil, which is essential for raising rabi crops. Poor rainfall led to such situation," said Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA) Sudarshan Mohanty.
The major crops for the on-going rabi season are paddy (100 hectares), pulses (49,800 hectares), oilseeds (20,150 hectares) and vegetable crops (11,620 hectares).
"We are encouraging farmers to cultivate non-paddy cash crops to make up for the kharif loss," the DDA said.
He said incentive of Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,000 per hectare would be provided for cultivation of sunflower and mustard respectively. The cash incentive would be provided to the farmers for the first time under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.