Dumka Administration gears up for El Niño impact
KUMAR PRABHAT
DUMKA
Anticipating a dry spell due to the El Niño effect, Dumka Deputy Commissioner Abhijit Sinha chaired a high-level review meeting of the Agriculture, Cooperation, and Animal Husbandry Departments to fortify the district’s farming sector against low rainfall. The DC issued strict directives to ensure a transparent, time-bound, and quality distribution of paddy and other crop seeds. He emphasized that all Large Area Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS) must play an active role in reaching out to every eligible farmer, while simultaneously educating them on procuring seed licenses to maximize benefits from state welfare programs.
With weather advisories predicting below-normal rainfall this season, Sinha stressed the urgency of promoting drought-resilient crops. He directed officials to launch an aggressive awareness campaign for the Jharkhand State Millet Mission Scheme, encouraging a shift toward low-water, low-cost crops such as ragi, madua, jowar, bajra, sanwa, and kodo, as well as pulses and oilseeds. To ensure the message resonates across the rural landscape, the DC ordered the development of localized publicity materials, including pamphlets and audio-visual content in the regional Santhali language, to drive up farmer registration for the scheme’s financial incentives.
The meeting also addressed infrastructure and soil sustainability, with the DC emphasizing that the cent percent distribution of Soil Health Cards must be coupled with technical guidance on balanced fertilizer use to cut production costs and save soil fertility. Taking a tough stance on storage infrastructure, Sinha ordered the immediate operationalization of all cooperative cold storage units to help farmers store their produce safely and command better market rates. Concluding the session, he exhorted departmental officers to work with seamless coordination and maintain strict field monitoring to ensure that the fruits of government schemes reach the absolute last person in the district.
