From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Sep 4: It's raining good news for the farmers in Goa. After intense worry to lose the rice crop to drought-like situation, they can now heave a sigh of relief after rain God showered the blessings.

The revival of monsoons has cleared off the worries about decrease in rice production expressed by farmers this year in Goa, state government said today.

The agriculture department after its fresh survey of the paddy spread across 31,000 hectare in Goa had projected the 10 per cent dip in the production, which was due to break in monsoons last month.

“The dry patch witnessed between July 25 to August 25 in Goa had affected the crop to a certain extend. Now the rains have revived and we expect the production to be better,” agriculture director S P Tendulkar said.

The rains gave a skip to the state during last month raising concerns about poor production as paddy was already sown and waiting to be irrigated, naturally.

“The flower initiation of the crop was affected. We feared 10,000 tons less rice production this year,” Tendulkar said.

Goa produces 1.2 lakh tones of rice in the monsoons, which is entirely dependant on the rains for irrigation. “Goa has 20,000 ha. of low lying and 10,000 ha. of terrace paddy fields,” the director said.

The agriculture department said that resurgence in the rains has also benefited horticulture, cultivations in the hill lands and cashew in the state.

The Indian Meteorological department officials in Goa conceded that a month long lull witnessed by the coastal state has vanished bringing in showers from September one onwards.

“As on today season rains have touched 2243 mm mark as against the average of 2360 mm. This is the second phase and the monsoons is active over the state,” IMD’s Goa Director K V Singh said.

Although the situation seems normal for state’s agriculture, the experts have kept their fingers crossed as continuation of rains beyond September can adversely affect the paddy.

“If rains continue even after September 15 than the harvesting will take a beating, also the grains will shed and rot,” Tendulkar said.

The met department officials have not ruled out the possibility of extended rains in the state. “Nowadays the rain pattern has changed due to climatic distortions. There is a possibility that rains might extend beyond its seasonal deadline,” Singh said.