The target set this kharif is 97 lakh tonnes as against the previous year's 93.4 lakh tonnes.

The agricultural officers of the West Bengal state government has already chalked out detailed plans for chipping in the necessary help for the farmers, be it credit, seeds, fertilisers or just a piece of advice. West Bengal farmers mostly grow paddy during the monsoons, apart from a nominal amount of maize and other cereals, which will remain as it is during this kharif.

Director agriculture NN Trivedi told The Financial Express that the target of rice production during kharif has also been increased.

"Last kharif, West Bengal's rice production was 93.4 lakh tonnes, which was up from 84.6 lakh tonnes of the previous year. So going the impressive production of last year, we have set a target of 97 lakh tonnes for the coming kharif," he said.The acreage during in coming kharif has increased by 50,000 hectares over the previous year's 53 lakh hectares and all of it will be used in rice production.

Incidentally this 50,000 hectares of land, otherwise would have been used for jute production but due to unremunerative prices of the fibre in 1997-98, the farmers have opted for paddy over jute. Trivedi noted that rainfall in West Bengal is also expected to be normal. "We are expecting about 99 per cent of normal rainfall during the monsoons and till June 15, both north and south of West Bengal had its total share of pre-monsoon showers and thus the paddy seed beds have already been prepared," he added.

The government has also worked out plans for reaching the major inputs like seeds, fertilisers and cash credit to the farmers.

A special high yielding variety of rice seeds have been distributed among the farmers by the private and public organisations, which includes both the state and central agencies.

"Regarding fertilisers we have found thatthe state needs an overall 9.5 lakh tonnes, which will include all sorts of fertilisers. The central government has already made necessary allocations. Recently we also had a meeting with the fertilisers producers and I can assure that there will be no dearth of fertilisers in the state," Trivedi asserted.

Short term crops loans to the tune of Rs 550 crore has been sanctioned for disbursements among the farmers. Of the total amount, Rs 200 crore will be disbursed by the cooperatives and the rest by the commercial banks and financial institutions. "We had discussions with all the organisations and funds are ready for disbursements. This year the commercial agencies have increased their sanction limits by Rs 75 crore from Rs 275 crore of last year," Trivedi added.

The government's agricultural department is also organising mass meetings and training oriented camps among the farmers to educate them about the latest farming techniques and Trivedi felt that these sorts of classes will help them in reaching thetarget production.