Farmers of Bokaro district are anticipating a severe drought, given the deficit rainfall so far. The district did not receive normal rain fall since the onset of monsoon; drought like situation may arise if the district did not witness adequate rainfall in next ten days, said, a Mahato, a farmer of Chandankiyari.
Scanty rainfall not only hit the paddy crop but also Maize, Oilseeds and Pulses across the district. The coverage of paddy is only 5 percent of the target.
According to the report available through the agriculture department officials, the transplantation of Paddy seeding was done only in 13 hectares of land instead of a target of 33000 hectares. The coverage of maize is 58 percent, pulses 6.3 percent and oil seeds are 0.12 percent of the average as targeted, official sources said.
“We will have to see very hard days. There is not enough water to cultivate crops or transplant the paddy seeds”, told Mahato. According to the agriculture department, the rainfall was below the average in all eight blocks of the district; in the month of July, the district observed only 286.8 mm rain fall against the average 329.3 mm. Chandankiyari block observed 7 mm, Kasmar 37.4 mm, Paterwar 90.80 mm, Nawadih 91.60 mm, Bermo 127 mm, Gomia 129 mm, Jaridih 158 mm, Chandrapura 140 while Chas witnessed 225 mm rain fall.
We were expecting good rainfall, but there were no sufficient rains. Even those farmers who had borewells could not provide water for their crops as hundreds of borewells have dried up,” said Santosh a farmer in Jaridih.