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Oct rain wreaks havoc on ready paddy crop in Bihar
Chief minister Nitish Kumar too held a meeting with senior officials to review the loss of crops due to rains on Wednesday evening.
Heavy October rainfall has not only caused damage to standing mature paddy crops in several parts of Bihar but has also affected the prospects of rabi crops, officials said, adding though that they were yet to make an assessment of the damage.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar too held a meeting with senior officials to review the loss of crops due to rains on Wednesday evening.
Incessant rainfall in Nepal and in the state have also increased the threat of floods in Supaul and Kishanganj districts in north Bihar, where the district administrations have sounded alert following a surge in Kosi and Mahananda rivers.
“We have alerted officials in five circles of the district and boats have pressed into service in the low-lying areas to assist people,” Supaul’s district magistrate (DM) Mahendra Kumar told HT over phone. “A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed to deal with any situation,” he said, adding that there was no reason to panic as discharge into Kosi has started falling.
“Agriculture officials have been asked to assess the damage and submit the report by Wednesday evening,” he said.
Kishanganj DM Dr Aditya Prakash said, “Flood waters have entered a few panchayats of Terhagachh and Dighalbank blocks following the surge in Mahananda river and we are keeping a watch. Agriculture officials have started assessing the damage to crops in various areas. A report will be sent to the government.”
District agriculture officer (DAO) of Purnia, Prakash Chandra Mishra, said, “We are assessing the damage. October rainfall has delayed rabi sowing by at least 15 days.”
However, DAO of Saharsa Dinesh Prasad Singh said, “There is no report of any damage to crops in the district due to rains.”
Farmers in Purnia and Saharsa, where paddy is cultivated over large areas, are a worried lot. “Our paddy in flowering stage has been damaged,” said Sunil Singh, a farmer in Dhamdaha.
Mukhtar Alam of Shrinagar block in Purnia said, “Paddy, which was almost at harvesting stage, has been damaged by rains and winds.”
In Darbhanga, Baidyanath Thakur, a farmer of Ratanpur village in Jale block, had cultivated paddy this time with great expectations.
However, for the last three days, intermittent rains have shattered all his dreams. His paddy crop in about 4-5 bighas of land has been completely damaged.
In Moujampur village under Benipur block, Radheshyam Mahto says sowing of paddy this year was delayed due to incessant rains and floods. Now, standing crop got ruined due to strong wind and rains.
DAO in Darbhanga, Radha Raman, said actual crop damage would be known only after an assessment, to be conducted after weather turns conducive.
District statistical officer, Shambhu Prasad Yadav, said the total average rainfall recorded in district till Wednesday in October was 219.94 mm, the highest in last five years. The average rainfall recorded in October last year was 12.9 mm. The average rainfall for the month of October in 2019 was 11.1 mm, in 2018 it was 5.7 mm and in 2017 the figure was 11.6 mm.
Damage to paddy crop was also reported from Bhojpur district. Agriculture scientist Dr P K Dwivedi said untimely rains were not favourable for rabi crops either and had damaged tiny plants of potato and peas just sown by farmers, besides damaging paddy crops.
(With inputs from Prashant Ranjan)
