Rice production to drop down 33%, maize by 40%,
Orange, large cardamom, vegetables also on shortfall basket
GANGTOK, August 10: The monsoon rains this season have been below normal and unevenly spread in the agriculture nation of India which has hurt crop outputs, spiked up food prices and threatened a fragile economic recovery besides spurring increasingly urgent calls for government action.
While the nation is bracing for a shortage in food grain production due to lean monsoon spell, there has also been a sharp drop in the production of rice and maize in Sikkim due to scarce rainfall this kharif season.
The State agriculture department has made a tentative estimate of a cumulative loss worth around Rs. 25 crores in rice and maize cultivation due to 34 percent drop in the average monsoon during this kharif season.
Ironically, the monsoons had battered Sikkim two weeks earlier in the last week of May than the schedule time prompted by Cyclone Aila that left considerable damages to the road infrastructure in the Himalayan State.
Since then, rainfall has been occurring in ‘drips and draps’ here and it has been a generally dry monsoon season this year which has not only hurt the production of maize and rice but also affected the production of organs, large cardamom and other kharif vegetables in the State.
It is informed that compared to last year’s monsoon production, the rice and maize production is feared to dip down to around 33 percent and 40 percent respectively this season. Rice and maize are traditional crops of Sikkim.
The rice production during 2008-09 was 22,230 tons while 65,000 tons of maize was cultivated. The estimated resultant shortfall due to a dry monsoon this year has been pegged at 6,670 tons of rice and 16,250 tons maize.
Subsequently, a loss of worth over Rs. 24.92 crores have been estimated by the State agriculture department due to the ongoing deficit rainfall.
The department has already started ‘Plan B’ to overcome the shortfall and losses by advising the farmers in the State to take up alternative crops like pulses and soyabeans in the fallow rice fields.
More areas would be covered under pulses and millets during the post-kharif season to cushion the losses of the farmers and food production.
To overcome the shortfall, the state agriculture department has advised the farmers to take up alternative crops like pulses and soybeans in the fallow rice fields.
Similarly, fallow fields would also be covered under wheat during the Rabi season, from the month of September.
The department had also conducted a coordination meeting with all the field functionaries last week with to plan out alternative strategies and discuss the present crop situation.
It is not only the rice and maize production that has been hit hard by a moody monsoon, the cash crops of oranges and large cardamom has also suffered. The orange yield has dropped down by 20-22 percent putting the estimated loss to Rs. 231 lakhs and the large cardamom production during its flowering stage is expected to drop down to 16 to 19 percent this year making the estimated loss to Rs. 55.54 lakhs.
More disturbingly, a shortfall of 4860.70 tonnes has been estimated for Kharif vegetables, resulting to a probable loss of Rs.291.64 lakhs for the farmers this season.
To offset the losses, the department is procuring locally available TL (Truthfully Labelled) seeds are being procured and distributing to the farmers in mini kit form, it is informed.
As short term measures, the farmers would be provided supplementary nutrients through organic sources and vegetables seeds. It is also informed that the poor rainfall being a regular phenomenon in hilly states, it has been proposed to construct water harvesting tanks to overcome the dry spell in the state.
The State chief secretary along with the heads of State food and agriculture departments had met the Prime Minister on August 8 to discuss on the ongoing dry spell and the projected crop shortage situation in Sikkim.
Meanwhile, the Gangtok weatherman has informed that though deficiency exists, more rainfall is expected during the last week of August and September.
“Though the deficiency exists, but more rainfall is expected during the last week of August and September”, said K Sitaram, Gangtok met in-charge. The meteorological office has recorded 105 millimeters of rainfall till 10 August.
An average of 20 percent deficit in rainfall have been recorded during June and July (ongoing monsoons) as compared to last year’s records, the Gangtok met has informed
