The government has encouraged farmers in drought-hit eastern states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand to go for early sowing of rabi crops, especially boro rice, a top agriculture ministry official said.
Both the central and state governments have provided relief packages and subsidies to enable farmers to reduce the adverse impact of poor rain in the season.
?Poor monsoon rains have hurt the planting of kharif paddy crop,? PK Basu, secretary and top bureaucrat in the agriculture ministry said.
?We have now encouraged them to go for early sowing of rabi crop, especially the boro rice crop,? Basu said.
Also, farmers have been advised to plant mustard, maize and pulses crops in the drought-affected areas, which is essentially a paddy-growing region, Basu said.
?State governments have been urged to ensure timely seeds and other input distribution to farmers,? said Basu, noting, officials from the central government are either touring or will tour the region extensively.
?Our aim is to ensure the adverse impacts of drought are minimised,? the official said.
Overall India has received good monsoon rains this year with farmlands getting adequate and timely rainfall and boosting prospects of harvesting bumper kharif crop.
The monsoon rainfall was below normal only in the three eastern states.