Lack of water hits paddy transplantation in Bihar

Mustafa Khan and Balram Lal, both farmers, scan the skies every day for signs of rain. And most days they are left disappointed. With the state recording a deficit of more than 50 percent in rainfall so far, Khan and Lal, like hundreds of thousands of farmers in Bihar, have one grave worry: how will they transplant paddy seedlings if there is no water in the fields?

“We are losing hope. It’s almost the month of Sawan (July 16-Aug 16) and lack of rains is bound to hit paddy transplantation,” said Lal, who lives in Maoist-hit Aurangabad district, about 100 km from here.

“Every day we pray for heavy rains, it is the only hope for us.”

According to Animesh Chanda, director of the meteorological office here, Bihar received 118.2 mm rainfall against its requirement of 246.5 mm from June 1 to July 7. “It recorded a deficit of 52 percent,” he added.

Chanda said the monsoon was delayed by two weeks in Bihar and rainfall was likely o be below normal.

To make matters worse, farmers said that unlike in the past, there is no water in the canals for irrigation. “We are lucky our village falls under canal irrigation but this year the canals are dry,” Khan said.

A large part of central Bihar is irrigated by water from the Sone river, brought through canals.

Another farmer, Maheshwar Ram, said huge quantities of paddy seedlings transplanted last month have wilted in the scorching heat.

A few farmers have managed to save paddy seeds sown early this month by pumping ground water.

Officials in the agriculture department said less than 10 percent of transplantation of paddy seedlings has been completed.

The state government targeted paddy cultivation on 3.55 million hectares this year. “Till date, transplantation has been reported on about 300,000 hectares,” one official said.

Last month, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that farmers would be given diesel at subsidised rates under a contingency plan to cope with the drought-like situation. link