Sowing area of paddy in Bihar,which has received 42 per cent less rainfall,has declined by 58 per cent to 15 lakh hectares so far this Kharif season and is well short of the targeted area under cultivation. In the last Kharif season,the acreage stood at 34.5 lakh hectare,said Sanjay Singh,Deputy Director (Statistics) with the Bihar Agriculture Department. The targeted area for the ongoing Kharif season was 35.5 lakh hectare. In an official statement issued Monday,the Union Agriculture Ministry had said that due to less rainfall,area under coverage of rice in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is less than last year,but added that planting will continue up to August-end in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Overall,the total paddy acreage till August 6 is 228.19 lakh hectare,58 lakh hectare less than the year-ago period. In case of oilseeds and pulses also,area under coverage in Bihar is lagging behind the target. Area under pulses so far is 1.41 lakh acres against the target of 3.08 lakh acres,while oilseeds acreage is only 14,287 acres as compared to the target of 48,421 acres. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had declared 26 of the 38 districts as natural calamity-hit on Monday and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately rush a team of union ministers to assess the drought situation. The state government will seek Rs 10,500 crore to deal with the situation. According to estimates,the drought has affected 1.26 crore families in the state.
