224 blocks in 22 Jharkhand districts declared ‘drought-hit’
The Jharkhand government Saturday declared 226 blocks in 22 of the total districts as ‘drought-hit’ and announced a relief package to lakhs of farmers, according to a release by the Chief Minister’s Office . Simdega and East Singhbhum districts have been left out.
The government will pay Rs 3,500 each to more than 30 lakh farmers, bearing an expenditure of around `1,200 crore. The government said it will also write to the Centre seeking assistance.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren said: “A total of 226 blocks in Jharkhand have been ‘drought-hit’. In this situation it is the moral responsibility of the State to give drought relief to the affected farmers. We will spend Rs 1,200 crore and more than 30 lakh farmers will be benefited. We have already asked the officials to send a consolidated report to the Centre seeking assistance.”
According to the IMD data from June 1 to August 15, 18 districts received ‘deficient’ rains. The Agriculture Department’s assessment said paddy was sown in 5.4 lakh hectares of land till August 15 this year compared to last season’s 16.3 lakh hectares (91% of the total area) for the same period.
Agriculture Director Nisha Oraon said that traditionally the period in the monsoon till August 15 is seen as a standard to determine the extent of sowing of kharif crops. “Based on this, as per the drought manual 2016, two triggers–rainfall deviation (dry spells); and vegetation cover (hydrology)–were taken into consideration and 243 blocks across 24 districts were identified as drought hit,” he said.
The department is also focussing on a contingent plan for promoting crop diversification to manage the risk of low production. The department is promoting late kharif crops such as kulthi, niger, urad and madua. The department is also focussing on early rabi to bring cultivation of toria, rapeseed, mustard, gram, lentil, pea, fodder and forage crops such as berseem and barley under more area.
