Rain brings relief to Gumla farmers

GUMLA: The much-awaited rains that lashed the district on Saturday brought some relief to the farmers here.
It was a heavy downpour for over one-and-half hours, tending to boost agro activities that had slowed down over the past few days. However rainfall was not uniform across the district.
"We hope the rainfall will brighten prospects of good harvest, this season," said Bhikhram Oraon, a Gumla block farmer.
According to district agriculture science centre (ASC), there has been scattered rainfall in the district so far. Still there is hope of agro growth if there is sufficient rainfall in the coming days, said ASC scientist S Kumar.
However, he added, the current spell has been life saving for the saplings. There is still time of about 25-26 days for sprouts transplantation, he said, advising the farmers to go for direct seeding (broadcasting) method for short duration (90 days) paddy seeds like Ashoka, Kalinga, Anjali in the present situation too. Hybrid and high yield varieties like Lalat and Abhishek takes 120 days to grow, he said
For maize over 40% targeted area has been covered in the district while for paddy alone 1, 88,000 hectare has been prepared in the district. However, Saturday's rainfall will be advantageous to kharif pulses like urad, arhar and moong which are yet to be sown, said district agriculture officer, DN Manjhi.
Saturday's rainfall will accelerate farm work which has been low so far, he said. Generally kharif agro works, including transplantation, gets completed by August 15 in the district, according to Champa Oraon, a local farmer.