Last year, just 2 lakh hectares out of 44 lakh hectares of arable land in the state could not be cultivated due to lack of adequate rains.

As CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reviewed the situation on Wednesday, Minister for agriculture Naren Dey had a meeting with officers of his department on Thursday.

August 15 is generally regarded as the last date for transplantation of paddy. The next day, a meeting is presided over by Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta to review the situation and a decision is taken on whether the eight districts of south Bengal reeling under severe paucity of rain will be declared ‘drought-affected’.

“The situation is quite serious as the Met department told us that there was hardly any possibility of heavy rains in the next three to four days,” said Naren Dey. “The DVC and Mayurakshi barrages have started releasing water. For the 11 lakh hectares of land where transplantation is not possible, we have to think of growing moong and other pulses, oilseeds or maize which does not require much water,”’ said Naren Dey. He, however, advised people not to panic.

“Though there is a 36 per cent rain deficit in south Bengal, the situation can improve any time. But if we get heavy rains in the next three to four days, there will not be any major turnaround,” Dey said.

The worst-affected district is Purulia, where transplantation can be done only on 5 per cent of land and it is followed by Birbhum, where transplantation can be done only on 24 per cent of land.

“The Department of Geography has done a study on the cycle of seasons and has found that monsoons are now coming in early August and it stays till October,” said an official of the agricultural department. “Winter has become short and summer has become longer. In fact, our climatic pattern has become quite similar to that of south India. Our crop pattern too has to be changed accordingly. We are studying these findings and will formulate policies accordingly.”

Not so green this time

* Total cultivable land: 44 lakh hectares

* Last year, by August-end, paddy transplantation was done on 42 lakh hectares

* This year, till August 10, 23.81 lakh hectares cultivated