In the recent kharif season, Jharkhand encountered significant agricultural challenges, with approximately 2950 thousand tonnes of paddy produced despite only 1165 thousand hectares of land being cultivated. The scarcity of timely rainfall, akin to the previous year, resulted in a drought, severely impacting the state’s agricultural output.
The state government had aimed to cultivate paddy on 1640 thousand hectares of land; however, only about 1185 thousand hectares were utilized for paddy cultivation, leading to a shortfall in meeting the production target. The agriculture department managed to cultivate various crops on a total of 1751 thousand hectares of land, yielding 3820 thousand tonnes of food grains during the kharif-23 season.
In response to the adverse conditions, the agriculture department has submitted a comprehensive report on kharif production to the central government in February, detailing the production status of various crops.
In a significant move, the state government has declared 158 blocks as drought-hit following an assessment of the monsoon rainfall in 2023. This declaration encompasses all blocks in seven districts: Chatra, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Garhwa, Giridih, Latehar, and Palamu. The declaration has adversely affected over 15 lakh farmers.
During the kharif season, the government had aimed to cultivate crops on 2.82 lakh hectares of land, with paddy cultivation covering 16.13 lakh hectares. Following ground truthing assessments conducted by the agriculture department, 158 blocks across 17 districts have been identified as drought-hit areas, further exacerbating the agricultural crisis.
