Can Assam meet paddy target?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Three waves of floods and a drought-like spell in some districts in the interregnum have left Assam facing the prospect of a shortfall in paddy production in the ongoing season.

The Agriculture Department has set a paddy production target of 92,12,088 MT (metric tonne) and resultant rice output of 59,12,336 MT. Now, a question mark is looming over attainment of this target.

The first wave of flood in the state this year had damaged crops in 3,613 villages of 29 districts and affected 2,74,279 farming families. The first wave of flood had damaged early Ahu and Boro paddy spread across 60,584 hectare of cropland. Bau and Xali paddy, along with Xali seedlings spread across 2,071 hectare were also affected.

In the second wave of flood, early Ahu and Boro paddy spread across 26,294 hectare of cropland was affected, along with Bau, Xali paddy and Xali seedlings spread across 44,333 hectare. As many as 7,614 villages of 33 districts were affected in the second wave of floods.

The third wave of flood has already affected 7017.31 hectare of cropland.

To compound the misery of farmers, a drought-like situation in five districts of the state followed the second wave of floods during August-September last. The affected districts were Nagaon, Nalbari, Cachar, Kamrup and Golaghat. The drought-like situation affected around 34,521 hectare of agricultural land in 1,234 villages of these districts. As many as 59,360 farming families were affected by the drought-like situation.

The situation was so bad that the Agriculture Department had requested the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) to provide Rs 23.47 crore under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for grant of compensation to the affected farmers.

It is now up to Agriculture Department to chalk out a strategy to minimize the damage and ensure that the production of paddy does not plummet way below the target.

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