Rain deficiency in eastern UP, Bihar and Jharkhand has dented the government’s plans to push a second green revolution in the eastern region to ensure food security in the country.
While the Bihar government has declared 28 districts as drought-affected out of the total 38, sowing has been affected in half of Jharkhand’s 24 districts due to lack of rains.
The eastern parts of UP are also reeling under the impact of a deficient Monsoon.
Following a request from the state government, the farm ministry has sent a team to assess crop damage in Bihar, but is yet to receive a communication from the UP government.
Keen to enhance farm yield in the traditionally low productivity eastern states, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had allocated Rs 400 crore in the Budget 2010-11, to bring about a second green revolution in the eastern region comprising Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa.
Drawing a comparison, an official said that against the 1,000 to 1,200 kg food grains produced per hectare in West Bengal, Punjab produces around 4,000 kg per hectare.
The farm ministry is anxious as the severe drought in 2009, which affected almost half of the country, had reduced the paddy production by around 16 million tonnes. This drop was primarily responsible for plummeting agriculture growth to an abysmal 0.2 per cent in 2009-10.
The cumulative loss of paddy, the main crop in the kharif season, from the eastern UP, Bihar and Jharkhand could well be near the 16 million mark this year, fear farm ministry officials. However, they hope to make up for the loss from the increased sowing acreage in other parts of the country, which is expected to give a better yield over 2009-10.