With fifty eight districts out of the total 71 in Uttar Pradesh (UP) being declared as drought-hit, concerns regarding food security and decline in crop production are doing the rounds in the state. This is especially true of paddy, which is the mainstay of the state?s economy.
Due to the whimsical attitude of the weather gods this year, the state government has been forced to scale down its earlier target of producing 150 lakh metric tonne (MT) of paddy to a more practical 50 lakh tonne over an area of 5.2 million hectares instead of the 6 lakh hectare area, which was sown under paddy last year. Since the paddy crop in the state is mostly rain-fed, most of the standing crop has already wilted away in large tracts due to the intense heat wave in June and July. However, with rains making a delayed appearance in mid-August, there are hopes of cutting the loss to some extent.
KS Atoria, Food Commissioner, UP says, ?There is no scarcity of foodgrains in the state at present. In fact, we had done record bumper wheat crop this year and our stocks are stacked to the hilt. We had also done a record procurement of wheat this year: 34.13 lakh metric tonne. At present, we have 18 lakh metric tonne of rice and 27 lakh metric tonne of wheat in our stocks, which includes the central pool. The only problem that we are likely to face is in sugar and pulses.?
However, the state government has opened 804 counters, through which it was selling arhar dal at wholesale rates. ?So there is no panic regarding shortage in the state, per se,? says Atoria.
Much as the government is trying to play down on the crisis, the fact that there will be less production of all these foodgrains due to sharp drop of about 30% in the cropping area, is acting as a panic button. ?As against the target of sowing paddy, almost 30% of the area has been left unsown due to scanty rainfall. And the time for alternative crops such as jowar and bajra is also over, leaving scope only for the sowing of arhar. All the other options for kharif sowing are over. Anyway, there will be a 15% less productivity due to the late sowing. So UP is panicking more about the scarcity that is sure to come in subsequent months. What is disturbing is that there will be just not enough for the coming year,? says an insider in the government?s agriculture department.
Having caught off guard when the drought struck the state, the agriculture department is still unprepared to provide any relief to the farmers. As a drought relief measure, mini kits of the 2-3 kg seeds of the late sowing and low water intensity crops like millets, pulses and oilseeds were to be distributed to the drought hit farmers who had failed to sow the paddy crop or to those whose crop had been damaged due to the scanty rainfall. But serious delays in distributing the mini kits have robbed the farmers of even that chance.
The mini kits containing seeds were originally scheduled to be procured by the agriculture department by August 14. Now the date has been extended to August 30. However, by the time these kits reach the farmers (by the end of the second week of September), after the laboratory tests of germination, purity and physical quality, it will be too late.
Meantime, UP Chief Minister Mayawati met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded a Rs 7,789 crore package for small and long term schemes identified by the state government be sanctioned to deal with drought-like situation. She also asked that 26,000 metric tonne food grains and 1.8 lakh tonnes of wheat be provided to UP every month for above poverty line families on an ad-hoc basis, so that relief works could be carried out in the affected areas of the state. On the issue of stockpiling too, the state government has taken effective steps to check inflation. It has directed the all the district magistrates to check stockpiling and black marketing of essential commodities and provide essential commodities on fair prices.
Informing the Vidhan Parishad at its recent monsoon session, Jagdish Narain Rai, Silk and Textile Minister, Uttar Pradesh says, ?The government would ensure that there is no scarcity of essential commodities in UP.?