Patna, Nov. 1: Farmers in some areas are sceptical over loss in overall produce this year because of untimely rain in the past few weeks, including those led by Hudhud, even as the harvesting of Kharif crop have started this week.

The farmers claim that standing paddy has rotten in the fields at some places because of high-speed winds and rain. Agriculture experts have claimed that the extent of damage and resultant loss is expected to be marginal.

The food and civil supplies department would start procurement of paddy from November 15 and Rs 1,360 per quintal has been fixed as the minimum support price. “The standing paddy crops have fallen flat because of the Hudhud rain in many areas in Gopalganj and especially those nearing east Uttar Pradesh, including Mairwa, Bhore and Mirganj. The crop is lying on the fields, posing direct threat to mass damage because of rain or insects. Farmers are concerned over the rice production,” said Prem Chand Tiwari, a Gopalganj farmer.

Samastipur farmer Sudhanshu was certain of the adverse impact of the untimely rain over standing paddy but denied any major loss in the overall produce. “Hudhud apart, the rain over three to four days in the past week has also affected standing paddy. The ready paddy has fallen flat in some fields. This would cause trouble for farmers, who use combine harvester (a machine that harvests grain crops) to cut standing paddy. However, the damage is expected to be minimal as even the combine harvester at times cuts the fallen crop properly. Those who would harvest the crop using hand-held tools would not face any trouble,” said Sudhanshu.

Senior agriculture officials were not alarmed at the reactions from the farmers. “Though there was untimely rain and high-speed wind owing to Hudhud, its intensity was not severe. Damage to the standing crop happened to those who had gone for late transplantation. We expect normal rice production this year,” said Anil Jha, an expert.

The harvesting of Kharif paddy in Bihar usually starts from October-end or early November and continues till January, and the procurement lasts till April. The overall produce of rice in the Kharif season in the state is normally around 80 lakh tonnes. The rice produce of 81 lakh tonnes from paddy in 2011-12 created an all-time record, which was again broken in 2012-13, when the corresponding produce stood at 83 lakh tonnes.

The paddy belt in the state are spread over Rohtas, Jehanabad, Patna, Bhojpur and Nalanda districts among others — mostly in north and central Bihar.