The rice bowl of the nation — Chhattisgarh — is in the throes of a drought. The ponds have run dry and the tube-wells are unable to pump up water. Tribal farmers are praying for their crops. They keep staring at the sky in anticipation of rains but dark clouds are yet to come by.‘‘Failing monsoons are not a good sign. We are still hoping for delayed rains,’’ says the state’s Agriculture Minister Prem Singh Sahay who heads the ministerial panel that has been recently set up to deal with the situation.The committee has advised the farmers and agriculture department to keep back-up plans ready and cultivate only traditional rice varieties instead of the newly introduced improved and scented varieties.For the first time in the past 30 years, Chhattisgarh has recorded only 4.2mm of rains — 97 per cent less than the normal rainfall. ‘‘Much damage has already been done to paddy cultivation work. The farmers will not be able to go in for long duration paddy varieties,’’ feels Agriculture secretary A.J.V.B Prasad. CM Ajit Jogi has already convened a meeting of the collectors for a contingency plan. One of the measures is to ask the farmers to undertake re-sowing of the fields with short-duration varieties.
