Worries of agro experts were not merely speculation, but it is official now. MET Department (Ranchi Centre) has confirmed that Jharkhand has remained less-monsoon rain fed this year as of date. The department said that the State had received around 22 per cent less rain than normal, in which some of the districts have suffered with almost no rain till now with a deficiency as high as 69 per cent during June 1 and July 10.
The data released by MET department on Monday said that the situation was so worrisome that 19 out of 24 districts had received less than normal rain during period under supervision. As per data, Jharkhand was expected to receive 301.8mm rain in normal situation by July 10, in which it received only 234.5mm with a deficiency of 22 per cent from normal.
The only five districts under blessings of sky so far include Hazaribagh with sufficiency of 52 per cent compared to normal followed by Simdega (+19 percent), Dumka (+9 per cent), lohardaga (+8 per cent) and Ramgarh (+6 percent). Contrary to this, Garhwa has remained most unfortunate in terms of receiving monsoon rainfall this year with 69 percent less rain than normal followed by Godda (-63 percent), Giridih (-49 percent) and West Singhbhoom (-41 percent) with most of other districts flickering in between deficiency of 20-40 percent below normal.
“This situation of deficient rainfall is scary keeping paddy sowing in mind, as far as rainfall trend so far in the season is concerned. We have severely missing continuous rain for at least complete 24 hours which could have allowed water to stay in farms. For other crops and vegetables of the season, the trend of getting continual rainfall is pretty good. But those farmers who sowed paddy saplings in pre-monsoon rain during have to face tough times,” said Birsa Agricultural University Professor RR Upasani. He added that the consistency of prevailing rainfall trend could lead to up to 50 percent paddy production deficiency during the season in State, which if came true was going to be scariest situation in recent years.