Despite Madhya Pradesh's Drought, One Crop is Flourishing

Katni District, Madhya Pradesh: In the middle of a second consecutive year of drought, the sight of a lush tur dal crop on his four acres of land is reassuring to farmer Surendra Rai of Hardwara village in Madhya Pradesh's Katni.

Last year Surendra had sown paddy which failed. This year he took a risk and sowed tur dal which requires much less water. The gamble has paid off.

"This year I thought even if there is less rainfall, the tur crop will help me recover some of my investment in farming. So in half I have sowed tur and in the rest paddy which has failed," he said.

But many farmers like Munna Lal in the same village say they would have also sowed pulses if they had been alerted by the agriculture department on time.

"I sowed wheat for the last two years. Had I sowed dal I would have had some yield. The agriculture department did not guide us. They told us nothing," Munna Lal says.
 The district administration which has now sought a Rs 86 crore-relief package from the state government, had seen the drought coming but failed to alert the farmers, locals say.

"Centre had also informed in advance that crop yield may be low. It is possible that farmers did not get this information on time from the agriculture department officials. Action should be taken against the concerned officials," Additional Collector Katni, Amarpal Singh, said.

This year in Katni, sowing of Kharif or the monsoon crop came down from 1.3 lakh hectare to 1 lakh hectare, government data shows.

While those who have sown tur dal still hope to make some money, crops have dried up on 72 per cent of the land.