ROURKELA: Sundargarh district is likely to witness a bumper harvest this year owing to the favourable climatic conditions for cultivation of both paddy and non-paddy crops.
While June and July received abundant rainfall making it suitable for sowing and transplantation of paddy, the gradual decrease in rainfall activity at present, has made it suitable for cultivation of non-paddy crops which has already achieved around 60 per cent coverage and expected to further pick up pace.
Sources said, around 3,02,690 hectare of agricultural land was brought under cultivation for the current kharif crop season. Of the total, paddy cultivation has been earmarked on over 1.98 ha including around 1.60 ha for high-yielding, 23,200 ha for hybrid and 14,620 ha for local varieties respectively, with a total production target of over 7.13 lakh metric tonne.
Chief district agriculture officer (CDAO), Sundargarh LB Mallick said, as of now paddy cultivation coverage has reached 90 per cent. “Though Nuagaon is running behind the remaining 16 blocks, we expect to achieve entire coverage by next week,” he added.
Mallick informed that transplantation and intercultural operations are nearing completion in a majority of areas while in others, transplantation and tillering activities are underway. “Due to early sowing and good rainfall in majority of the areas, paddy plants have reached boot leaf to flowering stage,” he added.
Regarding non-paddy crops, Mallick said, the cultivation stands at 60 per cent at present. “With rainfall activity slowing down, sowing of non-paddy crops like maize, sesame, millets, biri, moong, arhar, and vegetables have started picking up pace on the remaining areas,” he added.
While good rainfall in the months of June and July helped in timely cultivation of paddy, the present scenario of moderate rains at night and sunshine during the daytime makes it suitable for the standing paddy crops and sowing of non-paddy crops, the CDAO said adding, if favourable conditions remain, the district would end up receiving a bumper harvest.
After the arrival of monsoon in June, the district had received 327 mm rainfall against the average of 204.3 mm. Similarly in July, the district witnessed 527 mm rain against the average of 352.3 mm. Except for adverse impact on vegetable cultivation in some pockets, the heavy rainfall in the past two months proved beneficial for cultivation of all crops.
Sources said, the district has set a target to grow pulses over 30,970 ha and produce 2,145 tonne, oilseeds over 13,470 ha and produce 1,708 tonne and vegetable crops over 28,170 ha and produce 35,600 tonne.