As the rainfall picked up, though late in August, West Bengal is hopeful of making up some of the shortages it had during early sowing period this kharif season.
According to state government estimates, although area under cultivation was down by 35% till early August, it picked up later in August.
?We are expecting a good crop this year. The farmers faced difficulty in sowing initially due to scanty rainfall, but it seems to be better now,? said Arup Roy, minister, agriculture marketing of West Bengal. Between August 9 and August 15, the southwest monsoon was around 32% above normal in Gangetic West Bengal. Till the last week of August, the deficit in rainfall has come down to 18%, nearing a normal level. While Hooghly received 95% rainfall, Howrah received 90%, North 24 Parganas 87%, Nadia 85% and South 24 Parganas received 83% rainfall till last week of August.
Estimates with the state agriculture department show that till August 17 the farmers could sow paddy on 34.5 lakh hectare against a target of 42.92 lakh hectare. ?There has been a favourable transplantation of the crop from seedbed to the field and we are hopeful of making up much of the losses,? said a state agriculture department official.
In south Bengal, transplantation could be done on around 70% of the targeted area, much higher than 17% during July end.
West Bengal produced around 100 lakh tonne paddy during the Kharif season (comprising both Aus and Aman variety) in 2011 due to excess rainfall against 105 lakh tonne in 2010.
The average Kharif paddy production for the state is 90 lakh tonne. This year it has a target to increase the area under cultivation from 41 lakh hectare (2 lakh hectare for Aus and 39 lakh hectare for Aman) in 2011 to 42.9 lakh hectare in 2012.