Rajasthan sows its seeds and hope

After days of sitting around and doing little more than praying, the Sharma household has sprung into action. Kannaram Sharma looked up at the sky last Friday and knew it was time to hit the fields. And as the first drops of rain fell on his parched land, Sharma smiled and got down to business.

For seven hours, everyone in his family was out in the fields — ploughing, sowing, taking very short meal breaks and sleeping even less.

‘‘We have spent the last two months just sitting under the tree and watching our crops get destroyed,’’ says Sharma. ‘‘We have prayed for rain every single day, earnestly. Even though our prayers have been answered quite late, there is some hope now.’’

‘‘It is some succor in a bad situation,’’ says Agriculture Commissioner Purushottam Agarwal. ‘‘The damage is considerable but with these rains we expect farmers in western Rajasthan to manage sowing some pulses like moth and moong. Also, bajra has been sown in many areas, which will be used as fodder for cattle.’’ Back in the Goliavas village fields, an aging Mangal Sharma makes his way through a plot full of gwar towards his wife Gyarsi Devi. She is in a cheerful mood, humming away as she plucks the vegetable from the stock.

‘‘We would have died you know,’’ whispers the wizened old farmer. ‘‘If it hadn’t rained now, it would have meant total disaster. The wells had dried up. We kept digging deeper and deeper, but the earth’s belly was all dry. This shower has revived our hopes. We are not going to get a bumper crop, but at least there will be fodder and water for sustenance.’’

Just last week, the Sharmas spent over Rs 20,000 for a truckload of fodder, to feed their buffaloes and cows. ‘‘It is so expensive,’’ says a strapping Jagdish Prasad. This class eight dropout has got his entire math right.

‘‘So far, in the last two months we have spent over Rs 30,000 on our fields,’’ he begins, calculating on his fingers. ‘‘Till it rained this weekend, it looked like we were sinking our money in those dry wells. But now we are hopeful and expect it to rain down at least a couple of times more. It will be just enough for at least the fodder to grow. We may not make huge profits but are hoping that we will at least break even.’’

Even as this weather system slowly drifts away from Rajasthan, relief department officials know that a drought is inevitable. Despite wet patches, the ground reality is stark. Only 40 per cent of the over 130 lakh hectares of land has been sowed so far. Besides, most of the crop sowed in anticipation of the rains two months back has almost died, leaving farmers with practically nothing.

While Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje keeps the faith and continues with her fervent prayers, she is also convincing the Central government that Rajasthan needs help.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is expected to visit the state next week and tour the drought affected area.

‘‘It is plain for everyone to see that these rains are not enough to fill up our dry wells,’’ explains Mangal Sharma. ‘‘I am over 70 now and have survived worse droughts. I’ll survive this one too. I only pray that in my old age, the rain gods are a little kind and life a little easier. These last few days have been bliss, I need more of his.’’