Patna, July 27: Deficient rain in the state has affected the sowing of paddy prompting the agriculture department to convene an emergency meeting today to chalk out an alternative plan to protect the crops and saplings.

The department has decided to extend diesel grant to the farmers for irrigation and also devised a contingency crop plan. Agriculture production commissioner Ashok Kumar Chauhan said: “The state has not received the expected rainfall and it has started to affect the sowing of paddy. The state has received 26 per cent deficient rainfall between June 1 and July 25 and the situation has become even worse in July — the time of paddy sowing — when the percentage of deficient rainfall has increased to 44 per cent.” (See chart)

The districts of Nalanda, Nawada, Jamui, Gaya, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Jehanabad, Banka, Aurangabad and Bhojpur have witnessed sowing of less than 10 per cent of paddy in the current kharif season, Chauhan said.

The deficient rainfall has not only affected the sowing of the two major kharif crops, paddy and maize, but also the paddy saplings. Against the target of covering 34 lakh hectares, only 14.3 lakh hectares were covered with paddy, he said. The corresponding figure in the same period last year was 14.97 lakh hectares.

Similarly for maize, 4.1 lakh hectares has been covered against the department’s target of 4.75 lakh hectares. In respect to the paddy saplings, they have been planted on 3.13 lakh hectares against the target of 3.4 lakh hectares.

According to the contingency crop plan, each farmer would get Rs 750 per acre for irrigating his land thrice. A farmer would get Rs 25 per litre as subsidy for 10 litres to irrigate an acre, Chauhan said.

He emphasised that the contingency crop plan — oil seeds and pulses, which require less water, would be sowed — will be introduced if the state’s dry spell continues.

Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi meanwhile demanded that the government should immediately declare “drought” in the 33 districts worst affected from deficient rainfall. He said: “The period of July 15 to 31 is the season of paddy sowing and the government can’t be absolved of its responsibility by announcing diesel grant, as it rarely reaches the needy farmers.” Chauhan, in reply to a question from the reporters, however, said declaration of drought was a technical issue and would take a little more time before it can be announced.