The start of kharif season 2022 has not been good in Jharkhand as there has been a poor monsoon. This year there has been 44 per cent less than average monsoon showers. Due to poor monsoon showers, the nursery for paddy saplings is getting dry. Farmers said that if there is not good rainfall in the first week of July then the paddy sowing will be affected.
Also as per Abhishek Anand, in-charge of state MET office this year 89.3 mm less rainfall has been recorded which is 44 per cent less than average 160.2 mm of rainfall. MET scientists also claimed that in Jharkhand monsoon is 10 days late, however farmers claim that monsoon in Jharkhand is running 15 days late. Due to insufficient rainfall, the paddy seeds at nursery are getting yellowish, also the farmers are facing problems in preparing fields for paddy sapling sowing. The conditions of fields which are on the top having less rain absorption are even worse.
The Meteorological Department informed that if the moist winds from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal keep coming, then the monsoon will be good but right now the winds are coming only from the Arabian Sea. “The winds of the Arabian Sea are unable to reach Jharkhand, so it is not raining here. It is raining well in MP, because the Arabian Sea winds are reaching there in full,” the department informed.
Year wise data provided by the department suggest that in the year 2017 Jharkhand received 116 mm rainfall and Ranchi received 103.7 mm, in year 2018 Jharkhand received 128 mm and Ranchi received 103.3 mm, in the year 2019 Jharkhand received 89 mm and Ranchi received 106.7 mm, in the year 2020 the rainfall in the State was 207.9mm and Ranchi received 211.4 mm, in the year 2021 Jharkhand received 266.9 mm and Ranchi: 244.6 mm, in the year 2022 Jharkhand received relatively less rainfall compare to previous year it was 89.3 mm but till now the rainfall recorded in the State was very low.
In Jharkhand 24 districts, paddy is cultivated in 18 lakh hectare land but in none of the districts there has been good rainfall. The district which has recorded very less rainfall is Chatra where there has been a deficit of 87 per cent rainfall, followed by Garhwa recording 85 per cent deficient rainfall. Palamu has recorded a deficient rainfall of 70 per cent, Sahibganj with 73 per cent deficient rainfall and Khunti with 65 per cent deficient rainfall.
Similarly Simdega has recorded 63 per cent deficient rainfall, Jamtara 62 per cent deficient rainfall among others. Ranchi has recorded 30 percent deficient rainfall. Only East Singhbhum has recorded 3 per cent excess rainfall while rest other districts have recorded less than 20 per cent or more deficient rainfall.
The State Agriculture Department had started its preparation much before since the beginning of the month of May. The Department had started seeds distribution but due to less rainfall the effort of the department could not materialise till now.
The farmers could not start activities of nursery raising and direct seed sowing due to deficient rainfall in June, agricultural scientists of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU), Ranchi, said.
If rainfall remains elusive for next one week, it will have an impact on overall kharif production, as sapling transplantation to paddy fields would not take place by the first week of July.
