Bhopal:
It’s the month of Shravana according to the traditional Hindu calendar but scorching heat seems to have engulfed all myths of heavy rainfall associated with this holy month.
The farmers are having tough time because of the alarming weather condition. Sitting in his small farmland of three and half acres near Bhopal, Mangilal says that he would have sown Soybean if there had been proper rainfall in the area, but all his hopes have gone now. He has also tried to switch over to maize-like crops but weather conditions are very odd this year. Many farmers like him have no alternate irrigation sources.
Mangilal shares his story with thousands of other farmers across Madhya Pradesh. Almost all 51 districts of Madhya Pradesh are facing a looming crisis caused by deficient rainfall and farm lands covering several lakhs of hectares in Madhya Pradesh, have not seen any sowing activity this season. Mangilal’s brother Kunjilal supports him saying that they have pinned all their hopes to rain God now.
Not only farmers but the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan also has all hopes and expectations from God only. He has now offered prayers to Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain for a good rainfall in the state. Shivraj is concerned about Kharif crop because in the absence of monsoon, farmers won’t be able to sow soyabean which will indeed affect the economy of the state as the contribution of the agriculture sector to GSDP is almost stagnant at 27-29 per cent.
As per MET department, monsoon arrives in the state around 15 June every year but the state has experienced mere 44% of the average rainfall in the month of June. In view of long delayed rainfall; Madhya Pradesh, the soya state of the country, has been facing acute drought-like situation. Statistics related to arrival of monsoon in the state show the alarming situation:
|
Date |
Rainfall |
|
22 June 2002 |
114.2 mm |
|
19 June 2003 |
187.4 mm |
|
16 June 2004 |
45.9 mm |
|
24 June 2005 |
44.9 mm |
|
29 June 2006 |
64.4 mm |
|
28 June 2007 |
3.7 mm |
|
14 June 2008 |
151.6 mm |
|
28 June 2009 |
106.9 mm |
|
17 June 2010 |
76.7 mm |
|
22 June 2011 |
296 mm |
|
04 July 2012 |
94.9 mm |
|
17 June 2013 |
460.3 mm |
|
08 July 2014 |
99 mm |
Deficit rainfall has badly hit Madhya Pradesh because the time between June 15 and July 20 is considered as the most important period for sowing activities. In such a situation, sowing of paddy and soybean will be badly affected even if the state experiences normal rainfall after this period.
According to the data released by the MET department, only Sidhi, Rewa and Damoh distrticts have reported normal rainfall while the main soybean growing belt in western Madhya Pradesh with more than 60% deficit rains from normal has been staring at draught like situation. Entire malwa resigion including districts of Ratlam, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Jhabua, Alirajpur, Dewas, Ujjain, Khargone and Barwani have reported scanty rainfall.
Besides western Madhya Pradesh, Mandla, Katni, Tikamgarh, Sagar, Anuppur, Vidisha, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Singarauli, Balaghat, Shahdol, Raisen, Satna, Chhatarpur, Morena, Burhanpur all have received deficit rainfall. This will affect not just the present crop but the next crop as well.
Almost all other districts have deficit-to-scanty rainfall in the state. This year the state has expected an acreage of 13.02 million hectare against 12.46 million hectare of the previous year.
Alarmed with the situation, state government has called an emergency meeting of Agriculture Cabinet and demanded the centre to extend benefits of Fasal Bima Yojna to all farmers of the state. The Chief Minister who defines himself as Kisan ka Beta (son of a farmer) has appealed farmers not to panic and assured them to offer support and advice for better crops.
Shivraj government has already been providing interest-free loan and subsidised electricity to farmers. Now he has announced that all efforts will be made to help the farmers come out of the difficult situation but the experts warn that no relief package can substitute a proper monsoon in terms of a good harvest.
