The target set for sowing rabi crops in Chhattisgarh could not be completed following scanty rainfall during the kharif season. The state government had set the target to sow rabi crops in 1.7 million hectare areas.
Of the total acreage, paddy, corn, barley and wheat would be sown in 142,000 hectares, pulses crop including gram, lentils and others in 640,000 hectares and vegetables in 108,000 hectares.
The government had also set the target of taking sugarcane on 30,000 hectare area in this season.
"The sowing work has been completed in about 1.5 million hectare area, which is about 92% of the targeted acreage," a state government spokesperson said.
The department officials said that the possibility of achieving the acreage target was bleak.
Normally, the sowing for the rabi crops in the state was completed by March 10 every year.
The scanty rainfall that the state received in 2015 was cited as one of the reasons for the failure. The state was hit by severe crises with the authorities declaring 117 of the 150 tehsils as drought-hit.
The canals and reservoirs across the state did not hold sufficient water to ensure irrigation for the rabi crop that affected the sowing work, the official said.
Though paddy acreage was less for the rabi crop, the production was even affected in the kharif marketing season 2015-16. Officials said the paddy procurement was less as compared to the kharif marketing season 2014-15.
In the last season, the state had procured about 6.5 MT of paddy at Minimum Support Price (MSP). In 2013-14, over 8 million tonnes of paddy was purchased from the farmers.
