Uttarakhand Meteorological Director Anand Sharma is confident that the kharif crop in the hill state will get better results in the coming season.
He has reasons to make his point. Met office data showed the state experienced normal monsoon rain and above average at some places. “Our expectations of a good kharif crop are very high because the distribution of rain was excellent,” said Sharma, an agronomist.
Sharma had issued agri-forecast timely advisories during the entire monsoon all over the state through various channels, asking farmers to make arrangements of proper drainage, especially in the Terai region, a rice bowl of the state. Uttarakhand experiences 1,029 mm of rainfall this season.
There is a general perception also that normal rainfall certainly boosts the production of rice. Experts here said the sugarcane crop would also be normal though the department of Sugarcane does not agree with such prospects. “We may not get normal sugarcane production due to water logging at various places,” said Additional Sugarcane Secretary C M Bist.
Last year, the state produced 40 million quintals of sugarcane. While the six government and cooperative sugar mills crushed 18.7 million quintals of cane, the 4 private mills crushed 22.4 million quintals. Paddy, maize, finger millet and amaranths are the main kharif crops of the hill state.
Similar to Sharma’s belief, the department of Agriculture is also painting an optimistic picture. Director Agriculture Madan Lal said if everything goes right, the department is also expecting good crop. “We do believe that we had good rainfall and hence good kharif crop,” he said.
The department said Uttarakhand is hoping to produce 580,000 metric tons of rice this season as against the total production of 549,000 metric tonnes last year.
In the production of rice, Udham Singh Nagar’s contribution is immense which alones produces nearly 300,000 metric tonnes of rice. The targeted coverage area of the paddy was 275,000 hectares this year in the state.
Finger millet locally known as mandua is the second major kharif crop in the state. This year, the department is expecting a production of 195,000 metric tonnes during the coming kharif season as against the previous production of 182,000 metric tonnes during the last year. The targeted coverage area of finger millet was 135,000 hectares this year.
Uttarakhand is also hoping to produce 48,000 metric tonnes of maize this season as against the total production of 42900 metric tons during the last year. Interestingly, 56 percent of the total agriculture area of the state falls in the hills, which is mainly dependent on seasonal rains as far as kharif crop is concerned.
“As the data given by the meteorological department depicts that the rainfall was normal, we are also hoping that we will get good kharif crop this season,” said Lal.
