Farmers in Bihar fear crop loss due to monsoon delay

Vaishali (Bihar), Aug 1(ANI): Farmers in Bihar's Vaishali district are a worried lot as inadequate rains have resulted in parched farms and fear is mounting that their saplings may dry if it doesn't rain soon.

"We are facing lot of problems because it's not raining. Whatever crops we have sown it is drying. Cracks have developed in the land. Crops are infected by pests because of scarcity of water. Our lives are in trouble. Bihar government should help us. For the last two years floods have razed our crops and this year drought is troubling us," said Anand Kumar, a farmer.

Meanwhile, State Water Resource Minister, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, highlighted that government is taking steps to help the farmers and said that they were considering providing subsidy to farmers on diesel for irrigation purpose.

"We have decided to provide a diesel subsidy and latest quality of seeds. Agriculture department has prepared a road map to tackle the situation. Recently session of (legislative) assembly has ended so the concerned ministers of different districts are visiting their regions. We have prepared a contingency plan in order to provide things like seeds, fertilizers," said Yadav.

According to the meteorological department, country's monsoon rains were 18 percent below normal in the week to July 29, renewing fears of deficient crops after rainfall had been above normal for the previous two weeks. (ANI)