Even as excessive rainfall in September has fulfilled the average rainfall quota for Madhya Pradesh at the official end of monsoon season of 2023, crops especially Soybean have suffered major damage in the state.
August – the key month for the Kharif crops - had reported a 40 per cent shortfall of rainfall on average in the state. In contrast, the month of September reported 70 per cent excess rainfall. Some districts received excess while others received deficient rain during the season.
This balanced out the overall statewide seasonal rainfall, but this durational and geographical imbalance did not augur well for the farmers as crops faced damage first owing to long dry spell in August, then flooding in September and simultaneous worm infestation.
Officially, the monsoon rainfall is calculated between June 1 and September 30. The season end rainfall report by the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Bhopal shows that Madhya Pradesh on the whole received 945.5 mms of rainfall in the four months, almost exactly the same as the normal expected rainfall of 949.5mms.
Sub-division wise of course, the 21 districts in East MP reported an average 4 per cent shortfall of rain having received 998.6mms against expected 1043.4mms. The 31 districts of west MP received an average excess of 4 per cent – with 904.7mms of rain against expected 877.3 mms. The Meteorology department considers an excess or shortfall of up to 19 per cent as ‘normal rainfall’.
Nine districts received excess rain (over 19 pc excess) while six districts received a shortfall of over 19 per cent, putting them in the deficient category, the rainfall report shows.
In the month of September, the state overall received 283.7 mms of rain compared to the expected rain of 166.9 mms – an excess of 70 per cent. The 31 districts of western MP received as much as 110 per cent excess rain during the month, leading to flooding and water logging in agriculture fields as well as problems with the harvesting work.
Will conduct survey and give compensation: CM
Even as the opposition Congress, led by ex-chief minister Kamal Nath has been demanding immediate survey of crop damage and compensation to farmers, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Saturday that the farmers should not worry as the survey will be conducted and compensation given. He, however, did not mention any timeline.
Speaking at a programme in Jawad of Neemuch, Chouhan said, “farmer brothers, don’t worry, if there is damage to Soybean, the Mama (as Chouhan is called popularly) is sitting here. Surveys will be done and relief amounts distributed. The Mama has enough money, don’t worry.”
However, the Congress has said that the BJP failed to plan for the seasonal vagaries despite prior warnings by the MeT department. Media advisor to MP Congress, Piyush Babele, said in a recent press conference that Soybean crops sowed on 53 lakh hectare lands were facing damage impacting more than 40 lakh farmers. He also mentioned that a farmer in Khandwa district had died by suicide on September 20 due to the crop damage.
Apart from the dry spell and consequent flooding, the crops were further destroyed as adulterated insecticide had flooded the markets and did not kill the worms that infested crops. The BJP government was responsible for allowing the ‘insecticide mafia’ to flourish, he said.
He added that now, when the survey of damage should be done quickly to compensate the farmers, the patwaris (field revenue officials who undertake such surveys) were on a strike for a month and the government had failed to resolve their issues.
