The news of below normal monsoon season may have come as a bolt from the blue for thousands of farmers gazing at the sky anticipating clouds to bring new lease of life to the baked earth and make the environment conducive for sowing of crops. To their delight the department of Agriculture claims to have made all preparations to address problems accompanying drought.
The meteorological department has predicted monsoon to hit the State in the third week of June and with the slight delay the paddy sowing is likely to be pushed till the end of June.
“Our contingency plan is ready and we are in a position to provide protection to 20 per cent of the agricultural land in the event of drought. We will be completely ready by the end of June,” said Director Agriculture KP Sahu.
The season of Khraif starts from June and lasts till October, however, a delayed monsoon reduces the crop cycle thus making the crop dependent on prolonged monsoon. However, it is too early to predict whether monsoon will outlive its duration like previous year thus coming to the rescue of farmers as well as the Government.
As per the contingency plan the State will be prepared with sufficient seeds of short duration varieties of kharif crops in addition to timely placement of inputs such as seeds and fertilizers to meet the challenge of drought.
“We have started purchasing seeds of contingency crops. Moreover, the Cooperative department is planning crop insurance plan. We are prepared in case of deficient or erratic monsoon,” maintained the Director.
Unlike last year, the State Government seems to have realised just in time about the necessity to prepare for the worst case scenario.
In a review meeting of Agriculture department on June 6, Chief Minister Hemant Soren directed officials of the Agriculture department to expedite distribution of seeds and provide short duration Kharif seeds within 15 days and provide irrigation & farm equipments worth `15 crore to farmers of the State.
Even as 20-lakh farmers of the State have been provided with Kisan Credit Cards (KCC), the CM stressed on distribution of additional 10-lakh KCCs to remaining peasants. During the meeting, it was also decided that about 10-lakh hectare acidic land would be treated to transform it into cultivable land which is likely to address shortfall in crop a problem usually faced due to erratic monsoon. In the meeting, the CM had asked for execution of irrigational schemes including solar energy run deep boring pumps must be ensured along with construction of canals alongside rural roads for irrigation however there is no time frame to give shape to the these proposals discussed in the meeting.