Kharif Crops in Downward Production, Due to Uneven Monsoon This Season in North Bengal

Swapan Roy Bir

Due to the uneven monsoon in the Northern Bengal, in this crucial agricultural time, the entire Kharif crops are in shatters. The farmers here are now spending sleepless nights for this. On one hand, some agricultural areas are experiencing drought like situation. Paddy saplings could not be sowed in the fields due to lack of water in the soil. In entire North Eastern and North Bengal, the rains are caused due to the monsoon which enters land through Eastern sea shore i.e. the Sundarbans areas, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha etc. The Bangladesh also comes under its purview. However, this time the situation has changed. The monsoon has entered late and with less of rain clouds. At least this is being claimed by the weather officials in India. This has led to the less of rainfall creating problems to the farmers due to drought like situation. The farmers have started planting paddy in the month of August but it is expected that the productivity will be less because of late sowing of the crops. This kind of worse situation in Paddy farming is seen in Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar districts. The affected areas in Coochbehar districts are Nijtaraf, Bhotbari, Uchchalpukuri, and Jamaldaha. The farmers have tried to sow paddy with the help of automatic planting machines this time. However, in Mekhliganj Block most of the Farmers have kept their land dry due to the uneven nature of Monsoon this year. While interacting with a farmer from Jamaldaha, named Kanhaiyalal Barman, I found that he had only planted in only 1 bigha of his land, the rest of the land has been kept idle by him. The agricultural department from Coochbehar also expressed discomfort in the seasonal shift this year. Interestingly and expectedly, the farmers have started to include their agricultural land under Central Government’s Agricultural Land insurance scheme for getting the insurance returns.