The Hindu : Drought situation grim, says ICAR chief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 02, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Drought situation grim, says ICAR chief

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD Aug. 1. The drought situation across the country is alarming with scanty rainfall recorded in many States, according to the Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Panjab Singh.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Dr. Singh however sounded optimistic of the kharif crops being saved. The rain in the last four days had revived hopes of retrieving the paddy and other crops.

Dr. Singh, who is here to attend the silver jubilee celebrations of the Directorate of Oilseeds Research (DOR), said a good rainfall over the next one week would again brighten the prospects for the kharif crop.

As of now, the research institutes and the universities had been alerted to assist the State Government in implementing the contingency plans in the event of the dry spell prolonging further, he explained.

The ICAR chief was briefed by the meteorological experts about the weather forecast and the prospect of the monsoon getting active. The drought scenario of the day was comparable to the one that stalked most parts of the country in 1987, he said.

The deficit in the rainfall was above 60 per cent in Western UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, between 40 per cent and 60 per cent in east Madhya Pradesh, East UP, Punjab, south interior Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, 20 per cent to 40 per cent in west Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Telangana, Coastal Karnataka, Orissa, Konkan and Goa. Normal rainfall was recorded in Gujarat, north interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema, central Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidarbha, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, the Gangetic belt and West Bengal. Excess rainfall was reported in Bihar and the sub-Himalayan West Bengal region.

In Andhra Pradesh, the average rainfall received was deficient by 48 per cent . Due to dry conditions, nurseries were withering. About 21 lakh hectares had been sown against the normal 52.4 lakh hectares.

Dr. Panjab Singh said it was difficult as of now to assess the extent of crop damage due to the dry spell. Such assessment was possible only at a later stage when retrieval of the crop was ruled out. Of the 40.6 million hectares normally sown under kharif paddy, till now only 13 million hectares was sown. Last year the sowing area by this time was about 17 million hectares.

Coarse cereal crops are raised normally in 23 million hectares in kharif. Only 12.5 million hectares was now covered as against 17 million hectares last year.

Answering questions, he said the country was self-sufficient in food but the fodder and feed shortage would be a bigger problem to handle to protect the huge livestock population.

Dr.Panjab Singh said he had written to all the Vice-Chancellors of the universities and institutes under ICAR to share their plant and seed material with the respective State authorities.

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