While some may think that unexpected rainfall in the last three days is sufficient to address agricultural woes experts and Government officials believe it is too little and too late for fresh sowing.
In a reply to whether the rainfall will help in offsetting the disadvantage of less rain fall earlier, Director Agriculture KK Soan said, “To some extent.” However Soan “hopes to have more rain to meet up the deficiency.”
According to reports, last three days of rain has helped in reducing rain deficit by 9 per cent but it is not enough to get rid of the tag of a drought-hit State. If the recent rainfall is account for, average rainfall
in Jharkhand will be still around 20 per cent less than the normal.
Even though the rain may have compensated the loss to some extent experts do not consider it to be appropriate for fresh sowing even if the land is fallow thus dispelling any misplaced notion about rain being a good omen for farmers to go ahead with implanting saplings.
“This is not the time for sowing fresh crops. This rain is rather more beneficial for the standing crops,” said A Wadood, Agriculture Scientist at Birsa Agriculture University.
Due to poor rainfall in the State only 50 per cent of low-lands were sowed with paddy during this monsoon which would yield close to 25 to 30 lakh tonnes of grain provided conditions remains favourable till the fruition of the crop.
Wadood added, “As per our estimate paddy has been sown in around 9 lakh hectare of land” which will lead to somewhat satisfactory produce.
Although the rain in August is not fit for paddy sowing experts recommend it to be benign for contingent crops. “This rain is a sort of boon but I would recommend going for crops like maize or vegetables which will provide good yields,” maintained Wadood.