Early monsoon rains cause damage to maize crop in Bihar

About 250,000 farmers produce 35 to 40 lakh metric tonnes of maize in over 350,000 hectares of land across the seven districts of Kosi and Seemanchal regions in Bihar.

Early monsoon rains have damaged maize crops in Bihar’s Seemanchal and Kosi regions with farmers looking for solace in higher procurement prices for the crop this year due to higher demand.

About 250,000 farmers produce 35 to 40 lakh metric tonnes of maize in over 350,000 hectares of land across the seven districts of Kosi and Seemanchal regions in Bihar. (AFP) (AFP)

A 55-year-old farmer, Ramadhar Chauhan of Gogarh village in Purnia, said, “Rains came at a time when we were drying our harvest on the road. We have no proper place to store our harvest, which led to the damage.”

According to rough official estimates, about 20% or 600,000-800,000 tons of matured maize may have been destroyed due to early rains.

“We have started collecting data of loss suffered by the maize farmers,” said Sant Lal Sah, Araria district agriculture officer (DAO), who is also holding additional charge of Purnia.

Hari Mohan Mishra, the deputy director of agriculture technology management agency (ATMA) at Purnia, admitted that the early monsoon rains have affected the yield for some farmers. “However, farmers harvested most of the maize before the rains.” He added that farmers will be compensated with timely paddy transplantation.

About 250,000 farmers produce 35 to 40 lakh metric tonnes of maize in over 350,000 hectares of land across the seven districts of Kosi and Seemanchal regions in Bihar. Some are happy they are getting a better price for the crops than last year. “We sold our maize at ₹1000 per quintal last year, but this year it is ₹1500 or even more,” one farmer said.

He demanded that procurement should start through primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) on MSP. “The government has fixed the MSP on maize at ₹1870 per quintal. If our maize is procured at this price, it will benefit the growers,” he said.