Scanty rain hits kharif operation across Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The latest spate of rainfall seems to have come a bit late for the farmers of Odisha. The State has achieved a mere 59 per cent of crop coverage against its target for the kharif season 2022-23.The Agriculture department had planned to cover 61.59 lakh hectare under kharif crops. The actual area covered by the end of the August first week was 36.58 lakh hectare.

“So far 59.1 per cent of crop coverage has been achieved due to less and erratic rainfall in some of the districts. The deficient rainfall has considerably delayed  agricultural operations like transplanting and deweeding,” said a senior programme officer of the Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production.

The erratic monsoon and scanty rainfall has also delayed sowing of non-paddy crops like pulses, oilseeds and vegetables.While the State received 26.2 per cent excess rainfall in May, the deficit was over 43 per cent in June. The average rainfall received in June was 98.6 mm against a normal rainfall of 173.2 mm.

Though July experienced deficit rainfall due to delay in arrival of monsoon, a good spell of rains in some district however made up for the loss. The actual rainfall in July was 372.1 mm as against a normal rainfall of 328.9 mm registering an excess rainfall of 13 per cent.

With the monsoon doing a vanishing act in the first week of August, the rainfall is 58 per cent less than the normal. The rainfall till August 6 was 29 mm against an excepted 69 mm.Though the department had planned to cover 35 lakh hectare under paddy crops, the achievement is only 20.36 lakh hectare which is even 4.32 lakh hectare less than the corresponding period of last kharif season. The last year coverage till August 6 was 24.68 lakh hectare.Similarly, cultivation of other cereals like maize, ragi, jowar, bajra and millet is less than the area programmed by the department.