While Assam and Bihar are ravaged by flood and the districts of north Bengal have had enough downpour, south Bengal districts are plagued by acute scarcity in rainfall, leading to a near drought situation. According to the weatherman, there is a chance of depression being formed in Bay of Bengal around July 26 and the resulting rain may bring some relief. But if that depression fails to bring accompanying rainfall the situation can turn really grave impacting Kharif cultivation.
The cultivation of Aman rice can get badly hit in the process. According to available statistics the shortfall in average rainfall in Gangetic south Bengal districts this monsoon has been around 49 per cent. The badly hit south Bengal districts are Hooghly, Nadia, East and West Burdwan, North and South 24 Parganas etc. Though this is the end of Sravana month in the Bengali calendar, near-drought situation is taking shape in south Bengal. With the groundwater level in the south Bengal districts going down, not only is there scarcity of water to cultivate but also acute crisis of drinking water has impacted the lives of people.
While by this time last year, six lakh three thousand 834 hectares of land were cultivated, this year kharif crops have been cultivated only in three lakh 35 thousand 877 hectares land. Keeping the grim situation in mind a high-level meeting has been called at the state administrative headquarters, Nabanna. State agriculture minister Ashish Bandopadhyay said that rains have been much less this year. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been asking people to prevent wastage of water and to turn to alternative farming. Accordingly the block-level agriculture officers have been briefed. If rains do not come within a few days the cultivation of the Aman rice could be badly impacted, he said.
The rain shortfall in the two Burdwan districts, well known for rice and potato cultivation, has been 46 per cent. The rain shortfall in Hooghly has been the highest at 62 per cent. The rain shortfall at Purba Mednipur, Paschim Mednipur, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia and Birbhum has been 50, 41, 42, 58, 46, 55 and 48 per cent respectively.
