West Bengal, India?s largest rice-producing state, is expected to produce nearly 3 lakh tonne of rice more this rabi season as compared to the year-ago period with about 80,000 lakh hectares additional area coming under boro paddy cultivation.

Sowing area under paddy for the 2013-14 rabi season is set to increase in the state, supported by higher water storage in the catchment areas coupled with better ground water recharge in the key rice growing districts of Gangetic West Bengal as compared to 2012-13.

Usually farmers in Bengal start the sowing of boro, primarily an irrigation-based crop, from the middle of December.

?Water availability for rice production during this rabi season is better than the last rabi season. This year?s higher monsoon rains have boosted water storage in the catchment areas of Bengal?s major rice producing districts. And ground water recharge has also improved as compared to last year. All these factors, along with favourable prices for kharif rice, would boost sowing of boro,? a senior official of the state agriculture department told FE.

The official said sowing area under boro paddy for the 2013-14 rabi season was expected to soar to 13 lakh hectares against 12.21 lakh hectares for the 2012-13 rabi season.

?With the additional areas coming under boro crop production, our state is poised to produce about 2.80 lakh tonne more clean rice during the current rabi season than the year-ago period,? he added.

It would certainly be welcome news for the state, which saw a major flood in its six districts in the month of October. The flood had destroyed 2 lakh tonne of kharif rice and at least 4,70,000 farmers had been affected.

According to official sources, the total area under cultivation damaged by the flood was 91,000 hectares and about 90% of the damaged farmland was under kharif rice (aus and aman) production.

The state government has initiated an extensive programme, including distribution of seeds as well as fertilisers to the flood-hit farmers, to compensate the kharif crop loss by increasing rice production in the rabi season.

?We are hopeful of a higher production of boro paddy in this rabi season. We are trying our level best to ensure that more areas are covered under rabi sowing in this season as compared to the year-ago period,? West Bengal agriculture minister Moloy Ghatak said.

Bengal, on an average, produces about 160-170 lakh tonne of rice every year.