80% of arable land in 8 J'khand districts lying fallow due to scanty rains

More than 80 per cent of arable land meant for paddy cultivation in eight Jharkhand districts is lying fallow due to scanty rainfall, an official said on Saturday.

The ideal sowing period for paddy is from July 1 to July 31, according to agricultural experts. With delayed or scanty rainfall in the early months of monsoon in the last few years, many farmers nowadays sow crops till mid-August but that does not lead to a good harvest, they said.

Overall paddy sowing coverage in Jharkhand was recorded at 43.66 per cent till August 18. Paddy was sown in only 7.85 lakh hectares of land against the target of 18 lakh hectares till August 18, according to coverage data of the state agriculture department.

The situation is grim in eight districts out of the total 24 districts in the state in terms of paddy coverage. Palamu district has recorded the state's lowest paddy sowing coverage at 2.96 per cent till August 18, followed by Jamtara (5.63 per cent), Dumka (7.66 per cent), Garhwa (8.43 per cent), Dhanbad (10.26 per cent), Giridih (11.42 per cent), Koderma (12.61 per cent) and Chatra (16.35 per cent).

Expressing concern, Deputy Director of the state Agriculture department Mukesh Sinha told PTI, "Due to scanty rainfall in June and July, overall sowing coverage remained affected. Since rainfall is still continuing, farmers have been carrying out sowing. The paddy sowing situation is, however, partially better this year compared to the previous year."

The state had recorded 30.83 per cent coverage till August 18 in 2022.

The JMM-led government had on October 29, 2022, declared 226 of the 260 blocks of the state as drought-affected and decided to provide a cash relief of Rs 3,500 to each affected farmer family under the chief minister's drought relief scheme.

Sinha said that the sowing situation in some of the districts remained low.

"We are assessing the coverage and other factors in such districts. The sowing status will be seen for one more week. Then, any decision regarding declaring drought will be taken at the government level after evaluating all parameters," he said.

This year, Kharif crops including paddy, pulses, maize, oilseeds, and cereals were sown in 13.43 lakh hectares of land against the target of 28.27 lakh hectares till August 18, or only in 47.53 per cent of the arable land. In 2022, overall kharif sowing till August 18 was at 37.78 per cent.

Jharkhand government had placed a demand for a financial package of Rs 9,682 crore to the Centre for 226 drought-hit blocks in the state last year. The Centre has allotted Rs 502 crore as drought package, an official said.

Suresh Singh, a Palamu-based farmer, said, "I have two acres of land but I could not grow paddy this year due to scanty rainfall. I had grown maize on some portion of the land but yield was not good due to insect attacks. Now, we have only hope from the government."

He said that most farmers in the district are experiencing a similar situation.

According to the weather department, the rainfall deficit in Jharkhand is still at 36 per cent. The state received 422.7 mm rainfall from June 1 to August 18 against the normal rainfall of 689.8 mm. The state faced a 47 per cent rainfall deficit till July 31.

In-charge of Ranchi Meteorological Centre, Abhishek Anand said, "Jharkhand received good rainfall in past few days till Friday. The rainfall intensity may decline till Sunday. It will increase again from August 21.