Standing crops have been damaged in about 663,776.28 hectares due to floods, excessive rains, and waterlogging this year
Unexpected heavy rainfall in October has ended the hopes of paddy farmers in northeastern Bihar’s Seemanchal and Kosi regions of getting a good crop this year. Vinod Kumar, a scientist at the Araria Krishi Vigyan Kendra, told this reporter that heavy rains October 18 and 19, 2021 had damaged harvested paddy and also affected standing paddy.“No one expected this. The rains have not only damaged paddy but will also delay cultivation of rabi crops such as potato due to waterlogging and moisture in fields,” Kumar said. Satyendra Jha and Ravindra Yadav, who are marginal farmers of Araria district, were happy till last week as they expected a good paddy harvest either by the end of October or early next month. But their hopes have been dashed after the heavy rains of the last 48 hours.
“Several farmers had harvested paddy and left it to dry in their fields. They would be hit hard. The rains have also damaged flowering paddy,” Yadav, a resident of a village under the Sikti block, said.“The standing paddy is now submerged under rainwater and is unlikely to germinate as rains continue on October 20. This will affect paddy output per hectare and quality as well,” Jha, a resident of a village near Forbesganj, said. Pravin Kr Jha, Kishanganj district agriculture officer, said he has directed all block-level agriculture officials to survey and assess the damage caused to paddy by heavy rains and submit a report soon.“The magnitude of the damage will be known only after block agriculture officials submit their reports,” he added. The state agriculture department had released the state’s official paddy production target of 118 lakh metric tonnes (MT) in August this year. The target last year was 90 lakh MT last year. This year, paddy has been transplanted in nearly 72 percent of the total 33 lakh hectares identified for production, as compared to 29.22 lakh hectares last year. But last week, Sanjay Kumar, additional chief secretary in the state Cabinet, said repeated floods and surplus rains had damaged standing crops across thousands of hectares as farmland.