Paddy plantation in Uttar Pradesh has been hit due to the delay in monsoon. The third week of June has arrived and till date only 10 per cent paddy plantation has been completed in UP. As per the indications, monsoon is likely to arrive in the state by the first week of July.
According to the officials of the Met department, there are no signs of monsoon in the UP at least for the coming 3-4 days.
“There is no movement in the Bay of Bengal which is a deterrent factor for monsoon in UP,” informed Met officials. The experts in the agriculture department are expecting a delay of 10 days in the arrival of monsoon. Though the Met office has stated that like the previous year the monsoon could be well above the average but the delay has created panic among the farmers.
According to the agriculture scientist and official in Diversified Agricultural Support Project (DASP), SK Singh, the delay has given no chance to the farmers who were using early variety seed of paddy.
“UP farmers of western part opt for early variety of paddy seed so that their farms could be used for another crop in September,” said Singh. He said that in the eastern part of UP, farmers go in for Urad plantation before paddy but the delay in monsoon has also snatched this chance from them.
According to the former incharge of government farms in UP, BB Singh, the power cut has also added to woes of the farmers who cannot use tubewells for making the nursery of paddy. Besides the state government is yet to complete the desilting of canals. The canals in UP have no water for irrigation right now and this has also had an adverse effect on the paddy crop, as well as pulses.