ROURKELA: With more than average rainfall in May and indication of an early monsoon onset, farmers across Sundargarh district have begun preparing agricultural land with the hope to initiate sowing in appropriate time.
Against the normal rainfall for 41.4 mm in May, the district received, over the past 25 days, 92.6 mm showers making agricultural land suitable for ploughing. After the Akshay Tritiya festival, land preparation begun sporadically which gained momentum over the past fortnight in all blocks.
Sources said, during the 2024 kharif crop season, both pre and post paddy farming activities were pushed back by two to three weeks over delayed arrival of monsoon. It was followed by 43 per cent and 45 per cent deficit rainfall in June and July respectively.
Sisir Rout, a farmer of Bargaron block, said there was good rainfall five days ago and farmers across the block have been preparing their paddy fields. He added that some farmers with assured irrigation support have already started nursery raising.
“With anticipation of early arrival of monsoon, a section of the farmers are ready to start direct sowing and nursery raising from first week of June, while others may adopt wait and watch approach and would start preliminary farming activities from second and third weeks,” he added.
Chief district agriculture officer (CDAO) of Sundargarh LB Mallick said, intermittent rainfall have created conducive condition for preparation of land and advised farmers to go for deep ploughing of land with a depth of at least six to eight inches and avoid shallow ploughing using rotavator.
Deep ploughing in the present heat condition exposes insects like white grubs, termites and fungal spores to sun and renders them inactive. It also curbs weed growth, destroys harmful microbes and nematodes with strong sunlight, improves aeration and water penetration to help roots grow deeper.
Mallick also advised farmers to stay updated with the rainfall forecast before sowing paddy seeds, as farming needs adequate water and added that non-paddy crops are usually more resilient and sowing of non-paddy seeds on high land can be done by analysing soil moisture condition.
Meanwhile, the district agriculture strategy committee meeting to plan the crop programme for the 2025 kharif crop season is likely to be held shortly. With stress on crop diversion on high land, the 2024 season had taken up paddy cultivation over 1,94,700 hectares and non-paddy crops on 1,75,360 hectare.