The delay in monsoon has affected the sowing of the Kharif crops, particularly the water intensive paddy crop.
Paddy sowing in Uttar Pradesh, the second biggest producer of rice in the country, has been lagging last year’s level because of deficient monsoon rains so far. The situation is likely to be aggravated if the rainfall remains erratic.
According to official data, paddy has been sown in 27 lakh hectares so far, which is around 23 per cent less than last season 2021.
The Uttar Pradesh government had earlier set a target of 59 lakh hectares sowing of Kharif crops for the season.
Of the 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh, only Firozabad and Agra have received adequate monsoon rainfall, while in all the remaining districts, paddy plantation has been delayed because of deficiency in rainfall.
“It is getting late for paddy sowing and nurseries have matured beyond their stipulated time. Usually, nurseries are transplanted in 20 days but now they are almost a month old,” said an official of the Agriculture department.
He said that while farmers in the western part of the state were equipped with irrigation facilities, the situation was challenging in the eastern region.
Uttar Pradesh, the second biggest producer of rice, had a share of around 13 per cent in the country’s rice production of 122.27 million tons (MT) in the 2020-21 crop year (July-June).
Amidst concerns that a deficient monsoon will adversely affect the Kharif crops, especially paddy, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday reviewed the situation with the senior officials for preparation of contingency plan.
Uttar Pradesh has received only 81.8 mm rainfall till Monday, which is about 68 per cent less than the normal benchmark of 258 mm.
According to an Agriculture department official, the window for paddy transplanting exists till early August. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicted enhanced rainfall over northwest India, north-eastern states and West Bengal during the next three days. As per the Met department, Uttar Pradesh is expected to get monsoon rains over the next three days.
The cumulative rainfall across the country received during June 1-July 20 was 380 mm, which was 11 per cent more than the normal benchmark of 342 mm for the same period. Central India and the south peninsula have received 30 per cent and 34 per cent more rainfall, respectively, than the normal range so far.
In April, 2022, the government had set a record food grain production target of 328 MT in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) against 314 MT of production in 2021-22, as per the third advance estimate of food grain output.