Ranchi | Updated: April 7, 2023 02:33 IST Shriram Mahato (File) Shriram Mahato is unsure how he will feed his family after the rice he harvested from his field last year runs out in four months. Unfortunately, this farmer from Bokaro’s Sadma Khurd village is not alone in this predicament. Low rainfall during the sowing season (June to August) and persistent drought conditions last year due to climate change have resulted in abysmal paddy procurement, including zero procurement in two Jharkhand districts, in the largely rain-fed state this year.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the state, which broke off from Bihar in 2000, received the lowest rainfall in 121 years during last year’s kharif sowing season. From June 1 to August 12, 2022, Jharkhand recorded just over 371.9 mm of rain, a deficit of nearly 41 per cent, against the average 627.6 mm rain it receives during the same period. The ensuing drought dealt a heavy blow to Canada pulls 41 diplomats out of farmers in 226 of 281 blocks since the state relies heavily on monsoon to meet its irrigation needs.
The drought also led to extremely dismal paddy procurement — the lowest in terms of targets in four years — during this year’s Kharif Marketing Season (KMS), which starts in January and ends in March. Abhishek Anand, scientist and officer in-charge, IMD Ranchi, said, “Last year’s drought was not a one-off case. It was the impact of climate change. Weather has been gradually turning extreme.
That is why we are seeing irregular rainfall now. Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh saw one of the worst monsoons from June to August last year — with a deficit of nearly 50 per cent for these months.” Hardik Pandya rushed to Bangalore for treatment, likely to miss New Despite slashing the original target of 80 lakh quintals or 8 lakh metric tons (LMT) to just 3.63 LMT for the 2022-23 KMS, the state managed to procure a measly 1.55 LMT (42.87 per cent) of the revised target as of March 28.
Only 29,424 farmers (nearly 13 per cent) of the 2.29 lakh who had registered turned up at procurement centres across Jharkhand. While procurement in Bokaro district barely touched 20 per cent of this year’s target, it was much, much higher than Dumka and Sahibganj, which saw zero procurement. Leo box office collection Day 1: Vijay-starrer delivers biggest global opening of 2023, beats Jawan, According to the Jharkhand State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation (JSFC), the state enterprise that manages public distribution system (PDS) operations, the target for the 2021-22 KMS was 8 LMT and paddy procurement stood at 7.52 LMT (94.12 per cent).
JSFC managing director Yatindra Prasad told The Indian Express, “There is definitely agricultural distress in most districts of Jharkhand. Agriculture in the state is predominantly limited to mono-cropping, that is paddy, due to the state being only rain-fed. We decide procurement targets based on data on per hectare yield. There was a severe drought last year, hence we revised our procurement Why Lokesh Kanagaraj or Tamil cinema can’t emulate David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence 'Got a rental flat in one day': User Shikha Hansda (45), a farmer from Borio block of Sahibganj district, owns 3 bighas and has a family of eight to feed.
“The paddy harvest is usually enough to meet my entire family’s rice needs for a year. However, two-thirds of the seedlings shrivelled EasyJet flight from Spanish island to London cancelled after flyer defecates on toilet door and died last year due to the drought. I was able to harvest some paddy on one bigha, since that part of the land is close to a water source, but things have been tough as we have no other fixed source of income,” she said over telephone.
To a query on employment opportunities under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Shikha said there are few takers for the job scheme due to delays in payments. Talking about this year’s woeful procurement figures, Food and Civil Supplies Cricket World Cup: Hardik Pandya rushed to Bangalore for treatment, likely to miss Sunday's New Zealand Minister Rameshwar Oraon said, “Farmers will first keep the paddy they need to sustain their family for an entire year and only then will they sell the excess at procurement centres.
Since there was a severe drought last year, the Hemant Soren In game-winning knock vs Bangladesh, Virat Kohli gives indication that signature swat flick is However, many farmers claimed they had not received any compensation. Stating that she had not yet received the drought relief money, Shikha said she had pinned all her hopes on this year’s monsoon. Unlike Shikha, Shriram applied for compensation but alleged that he had failed to receive any relief despite making Why a caste survey isn't enough Ajit Manjhi (33), who owns a nearly 5-bigha field in Gomia block of Bokaro, claimed that he too had failed to receive compensation under the drought relief scheme.
“There was some rain while one patch of seedlings was ready to be transplanted. I managed to grow some paddy but it is already over. I am now entirely dependent on the PDS to meet my family’s food needs,” he said. In the 2021-22 KMS, Dumka saw the procurement of 1.49 LMT of paddy against the What is the first test on Gaganyaan journey, to be held on Saturday registered farmers sold their paddy.
Back to the gym after a week of viral? Here's what can help Besides Dumka and Sahibganj, procurement figures from Godda, Deoghar and Jamtara are equally dismal this year. Only 1,859.53 quintals (2 per cent) of the target of 1 lakh quintals was met in Godda district, where just 79 of 14,713 registered farmers turned up at procurement centres. In Deoghar district, of the target of 1.85 lakh quintals, only 6,777.98 quintals (3.6 per cent) was procured from 148 of the 8,466 registered farmers.
In Jamtara district, only 355 of the 4,529 registered farmers sold 9,512.54 quintals of paddy (9 per cent) of the procurement OnePlus Open review: Reaping the late mover advantage in foldables target of 1 lakh quintals. 'Got a rental flat in one day': User shares 'antipeak Bengaluru moment', netizens are surprised Deputy Commissioner Dumka R S Shukla said farmers had failed to turn up although districts had kept procurement centres open.
“This was mainly because sowing took place on less than 6 per cent of the total area last year (due to drought and mono-cropping),” he said. Talking about the rains in Jharkhand over the last two years, Anand added, “In August and September, considerable low pressures and depressions formed in the north Bay of Bengal. These systems crossed from south of Jharkhand, leading to rains in the south and central districts.
However, this left north Jharkhand with bereft of rains. In 2021, these systems crossed from the centre of Jharkhand, leading EasyJet flight from Spanish island to London cancelled after flyer defecates on toilet door Gay couple exchanges rings in front of Supreme Court, a day after verdict on same-sex marriage Watch: With stunts on bikes and cars, these women mark Navratri ‘Dandiya Kerala style!’: Shashi Tharoor shares video of folk dance that to uniform rainfall throughout the state.”
Meanwhile, Prasad blamed the state’s procurement figures this year on the shift from Decentralised Procurement (DCP) to Centralised Procurement System or NonDecentralised Procurement (non-DCP). Under the DCP format, the state undertakes direct purchase of food grains, and stores and distributes them as part of the National Food Security Act and the Centre pays the state for the entire expenditure incurred on procurement operations.
Under the non-DCP format, procurement for the central pool is undertaken by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) or the State, and the cost of food grains procured by state agencies are reimbursed by the Prasad said Jharkhand followed the DCP format for the KMS in 2016-17 (only for one district), 2017-18 (only for five districts) and 2018-19 (only for six districts) but shifted to the non-DCP format for the 2019-20 KMS.
Moitra gave me her Hiranandani to LS Gandhi, says pet SC refuses to seeking rights for Hindus, others to In call with Abbas, PM Modi condoles Prasad said, “We had written to the state government asking it to push the Centre to allow us to remain non-DCP for one more year. Though the Centre did not budge, the process took time. During the two months that the process took, the paddy remained at our procurement centres and we could not procure extra produce.
Had things been resolved on time, we could have procured 10-15 per cent more paddy. That said, looking at the slow rate of procurement, the state government should have revised the revised target too.”