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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | UP's drought plan deficient on power, seeds -Subhash Mishra

UP's drought plan deficient on power, seeds -Subhash Mishra

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published Published on Jun 12, 2014   modified Modified on Jun 12, 2014
-The Times of India
 

LUCKNOW: With the spectre of a drought-like condition looming large in the state, the contingency plan of the government, too, is severely deficient on two basic component: power and seeds. There is no special plan to provide power to farmers who are already desperate due to delayed rains, to help them irrigate their farms for paddy saplings. Besides, seeds are hardly available in government storages.

In drought-like situation, when the rainfall is well short of the normal, farmers heavily depend on the electricity supply to their tubewells, submersibles or water pumps to irrigate their agriculture farms. But with the urban areas having plunged into an unprecedented power crisis, from where would it give additional supply to farm sector is a big question.

In most of the states, including UP, nearly 85% farmers are small and marginal and majority of them have no tubewell or power operated submersible pumps. They depend on the rainwater for paddy which is the main crop apart from the pulses in the kharif season. Paddy is water intensive crop. A dry or drought-like situation would push the paddy growers to a starvation mainly in the poverty stricken regions like Bundelkhand where 10,000 depressed farmers have committed suicide for their inability to clear their dues in the past 30 years.

The Met department has conveyed to the Centre that unlike the recent years this time the monsoon could be weak and lead to drought-like situation in many parts of India, including UP. With the state being the highest producer of wheat and paddy, a drought here may put food security under threat. The Union agriculture secretary has recently toured several parts of the country and alerted the state government to prepare their contingency plans to meet any eventuality.

UP too has prepared an elaborate contingency plan. The Revenue department has issued a list of dos and don't to all the departments including agriculture, power, medical and health, revenue and the districts magistrates to follow its directives to combat if drought-like situations arises.

Similarly, the agriculture department also has prepared a blue print to support the growers if Al-Nino effect envelopes the whole state . It has identified the drought resistant seeds of paddy and pulses and could be harvested in less than three months time. Agriculture director Dev Mitra Singh told TOI that state was categorized into nine agro-climatic zones and there is zone specific planning to provide succor to the farmers and seeds would also be distributed for growing fodder for the cattle. However, the insiders in the department told TOI that the seeds of the drought-resistant crops were not available in the government seed stores.

Besides, at a time when there is already a shortage of nearly 4,000 MW of electricity everyday, it is very difficulty for the state government to get power for their agriculture activities Officially, nearly 30% of the available power is earmarked for farm sector, but in practice it is not even the half .

Officially 26 lakh hectares of net sown area is rain fed which will be severely affected in absence of or poor rains. Since paddy is a water dependent crop, the sown area is reduced to 96 lakh hectares from 253 lakh hectares due to shortage of irrigation facilities. And without electricity to the tube wells and the submersible pumps, water will not reach the agri fields and that is causing the policy makers a concern.


The Times of India, 11 June, 2014, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/UPs-drought-plan-deficient-on-power-seeds/articleshow/36366592.cms


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