For one district, it is the problem of plenty, and for the other, it is the scarcity curse. Murshidabad is reeling under a severe drought, while adjoining Malda is in the grip of floods. Vast tracts of land look parched and standing crops are wilting because of scanty rainfall in Murshidabad. In many areas, cultivation could not be started due to unavailability of water. The agricultural department has recorded 640 ml rainfall till July 31 as against 881 ml during the corresponding period last year, said assistant principal agricultural officer Sadananda Mukherjee. 'Farmers are the worst-hit in unirrigated areas. It is a piquant situation. Water is flowing above the danger level at Farakka. But farmers are hit by scarcity of water. In Murshidabad, more than 30 per cent agricultural land has not yet come under the cover of irrigation. Poor farmers are solely dependent on rain water,' said district magistrate Vivek Kumar. On the other hand, 600 families had to be evacuated after water of the Ganga, which had flooded vast areas of Kaliachalk in Malda, started receding, taking away with it four villages during the last few days. The block development officer of Kaliachalk II, Shantanu Naha, apprehends that another 12 villages would soon disappear into the Ganga. Murshidabad had a target of cultivating amon crop over 2.20 lakh hectare land. But the yield would be far below the target, Mukherjee said. Said Amit Das of Manoharpur in Kandi: 'I cultivated amon crop on only five bigha land. I dropped the plan of cultivating the other five bigha because of the vagaries of nature. Even now, the yield from the five bigha would be far from satisfactory.' According to Das, the sub-soil water-level has gone down at least five metres due to the continued dry spell that prevailed in the district during summer. But if the condition of the paddy cultivators is bad, the jute cultivators' plight appears to be worse. Jute, which is ready to be harvested, is usually soaked in marshy land with rain waters. Low water-level in ponds, used to soak the jute plant to extract the fibre, is posing a serious problem to farmers. Carting the plants to areas where there is adequate water is a costly proposition. Many people are fleeing to safer areas in Gajal and Englishbazar. Large parts of the district which had experienced heavy showers in recent times still remain inundated.