Favourable monsoon in West Bengal is likely to increase the state?s rice production by at least 25% over last year.
The monsoon rains, according to weather office, were almost 23% above normal over the past week and West Bengal received heavy rainfall during the period.
Although rainfall is likely to come down in the next few weeks, it will pick up again after July 15, the Met office said. Rabi crop was also affected owing to scanty rainfall and paddy could not be sown on almost 4 lakh hectare. Last year the rainfall was almost 21% below normal during this time of the year.
Sushil Chaudhuri, general secretary of the All India Rice Mill Association, said farmers have already started sowing paddy in the fields. ?The fields will become muddy after the rain and that will help in sprouting. We hope to produce at least 25% more than what we did last year,? he said. Kharif crop sowing in the state continues till August.
Farmers in West Bengal start sowing rice seeds for the Kharif crop during early June. ?Sowing has been good so far this year. While we could produce 60% of average rice production last year, we hope to increase that substantially,? said Satyanarayan Maji, member of the West Bengal Rice Mill Association.On an average total area under rice cultivation in the state is around 59 lakh hectares. West Bengal produces around 14.5 million tonne paddy every year with 10.5-11 million tonne produced during the Kharif season.
Meanwhile, vegetable production in the state has got hit due to continuous rainfall. Patitpaban Dey, member of the West Bengal Cold Storage Association, said vegetables cannot be stored in the cold storage due to very short shelf life. ?While a favourable monsoon is good for rice production, it has damaged vegetables pushing up prices in the domestic market,? he said.