- Jharkhand has received below-normal monsoon rainfall this season so far, impacting the sowing and transplanting of kharif crops.
- Insufficient rainfall could lead to a decline in the production of paddy and other crops. This in turn may lead to farmers migrating out of the state for work.
- The state government is conducting awareness campaigns and providing financial assistance to farmers for the cultivation of coarse grains. Experts, however, believe that long-term planning is essential.
Barun Kumar Yadav from Jharkhand works in Bhilai city in the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh as a carpenter. At the end of June he went to his village Pathalgada in Chatra district for the sowing season. This is when farmers sow paddy in Jharkhand. Rainfall is extremely crucial for this season. Yadav waited for weeks, but it did not rain sufficiently. Now, the 40-year-old has returned to Bhilai without sowing paddy.
Basant Dangi, also from the same village in Jharkhand, managed to set up a paddy nursery using water from a community well. But with insufficient rain, the land has dried and cracks have appeared in his field. “If it doesn’t rain in a day or two, the nursery seedlings will start to wither. The wider the cracks become, the more irrigation will be required. Paddy transplantation can only take place once it rains,” he says.
Similarly, in Andreas Topno’s field in the nearby village of Meral, paddy seedlings are ready to be transplanted from the nursery to the field, but the lack of rainfall has changed his plans too.
Shankar Dangi, a farmer from Chautha village, waited for the rains and then decided not to sow paddy this year. “It is better to sow maize than to keep waiting for the rain. However, the maize yield will also be low because there has been a delay of 10 days (for the start of monsoon),” he says.
In Jharkhand, where kharif sowing season is linked to the monsoon, sowing was delayed by more than 20 days this year. This is likely to have a long-term impact, considering the reliance of the state’s economy on the monsoon.
Vidyanand Sharma Pankaj, the director of the Agriculture Directorate, Jharkhand, says, “Transplantation (of seedlings to the fields) is running about 20 days behind schedule. However, in areas like Santhal Pargana, transplantation continues for a longer period. Even so, paddy yield is estimated to reach up to 80% compared to last year.”
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast below-normal rainfall for this year. As per the U.S. National Weather Service, a very strong El Niño is predicted between October and December — potentially the strongest El Niño event on record. Experts anticipate that it will impact the monsoon this year, leading to continued deficient rainfall. Mongabay-India visited Chatra district to understand what this implies for Jharkhand.
Yadav walks in his paddy field, which is not even ready yet, but grass has already started growing in it. Responsible for supporting a family of six, he says that farming only provides enough to fill their bellies. Pointing to the traditional well in his field, he says, “You can gauge the severity of the rainfall situation from the little water left in this well. I bought four kg of seeds and set up a nursery for my 12 katha paddy field, but there is very little hope this time for a crop that relies on the rains.” Katha is a unit of measurement; one acre is typically equivalent to 32 katha.
Jharkhand received 41% less rainfall than normal between June 1 and July 14. While the region typically receives 321 mm of rain during this period, the recorded figure this year is 193.2 mm. The situation is even worse in Chatra, which received only 68% of the expected rainfall (just 91 mm against a normal of 287 mm). Garhwa recorded the highest rainfall deficit at 79%. Across the state, 13 out of 24 districts are facing a rainfall deficit of more than 40%.
Abhishek Anand, the head of IMD’s Ranchi centre, tells Mongabay-India, “Weak El Niño conditions have already developed during the early phase of the monsoon and are expected to strengthen further in the coming months, raising the likelihood of a deficit in monsoon rainfall across India.”
The Government of India has identified 315 such districts where drought-like conditions could develop.
Impact of delay in sowing
As per the Jharkhand Economic Survey, paddy is the state’s primary crop, and more than two-thirds of its farmers are marginal (cultivating less than one acre of land). Additionally, the 2025-26 Economic Survey indicates that over 80% of the gross cropped area is unirrigated. Given this context, the delay in rainfall makes the situation extremely concerning.
Most farmers in Jharkhand cultivate their land only once a year, and this single harvest provides for their needs throughout the year.
Agricultural scientists say that the later transplanting or sowing takes place, the lower the yield. Parvez Alam, an associate professor in the Department of Agronomy at Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) in Ranchi, says, “In a study conducted at the university, we found that if transplanting is delayed until August 1, the yield drops by up to 50% because the crop does not receive adequate sunlight.”
A target has been set to transplant paddy across 1.8 million hectares in Jharkhand this year. However, by July 9, only 7.65% of the transplanting had been completed. The corresponding figures were 24.41% for maize, 8.82% for pulses, 3.86% for coarse cereals and 13.53% for oilseeds.
Udal Ram, the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Pathalgada block, informs Mongabay-India that 90% of paddy nursery work has been completed in Nawadih village and that transplanting should have started by now, but the lack of rainfall has prevented this from happening.
Prakash Rana, a farmer from Belhar village in Pathalgada block and a master trainer with the Panchayati Raj Department, tells Mongabay-India, “People are waiting. Farmers will only be able to carry out transplantation if there is good rainfall in the next 15 days. Under current conditions, it appears that only 60% of the paddy transplantation will be possible.”
Pragya Kumari, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Meteorology at BAU, says, “There was a 54% deficit in rainfall in June. In districts like Chatra and Garhwa, this deficit was as high as 90%. Consequently, farmers could not even prepare their fields while waiting for the rain.”
The impact of a weak monsoon is also evident in crop yields. In 2022, drought was declared in 226 blocks across 22 of the state’s 24 districts and a decline in paddy and maize yields was also reported that year. According to IMD data, the state received 20% less monsoon rainfall in 2022.
Gautam Kumar, the District Agriculture Officer of Chatra, considers this situation challenging. “A lack of rainfall begins to impact the economic situation. Issues regarding grain, water and fodder arise, as kharif is the primary cropping season. Employment opportunities linked to agriculture also face disruptions,” he explains.
Migration threat
Jharkhand is a migration-prone state and there are concerns that this trend will accelerate due to the deepening agriculture crisis. According to one estimate, approximately 4.5 million (45 lakh) people have migrated from Jharkhand to other states.
Experts also link the migration caused by the erratic monsoon to socio-economic conditions. James Herenj of Jharkhand NREGA Watch tells Mongabay-India, “When people migrate, only the elderly, women and children are left behind in villages. It becomes difficult for people to meet their daily expenses. Those who migrate do not necessarily find work immediately. If there is a delay in sending money home, families risk falling into the clutches of moneylenders.”
Senior journalist Nakul Tiwari says that the annual attempts to encourage migration out of the state has not yet begun. “Agents who take people away have not yet arrived in villages. The situation will become clear only after August,” he says.
Rejan Gudiya, a farmer from Khunti district, says that the uncertainty of the monsoon is bad news for agricultural labourers and if they do not find work, they will start migrating as early as August.
These agricultural labourers were earlier getting work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA). The scheme has been replaced by Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill (VB-G RAM G). “MNREGA was the sole lifeline for agricultural labourers. Many aspects of the new scheme remain unclear. Work under this scheme has not even started yet,” says Herenz.
Government braces for a drought
The Jharkhand government formulated and submitted a contingency plan to the Centre in May. It stated that ensuring the welfare of farmers and timely availability of quality seeds, irrigation facilities, agricultural credit, fertilisers and pesticides are its top priorities.
The government is also running a ‘Millet Mission’ drive to promote coarse grains. “Under this initiative, financial assistance of ₹3,000 per acre (up to a maximum of five acres and ₹15,000) is being provided. Camps were organised from July 7 to July 22 to facilitate the filling of forms by farmers. Seeds are being made available at 50% and 100% subsidies,” says the Director of Agriculture, Vidyanand Sharma Pankaj. Farmers are being encouraged to select paddy seed varieties that mature within 60 days.
However, Rana counters, “No government camp has been organised in our panchayat to raise awareness. We haven’t been told which crops should be planted. Even the elected representatives are not raising this issue.”
Chamo Munda, a farmer from Sayal village near Meral, also states that the government has not yet conducted any awareness campaigns in their village. Both Topno and Munda note that there are hardly any farmers in this area who cultivate coarse grains, particularly madua (finger millet).
Mausami Baksala, a farmer from the Simaria block of Chatra district, says that there is currently a lack of awareness regarding millets; therefore, the government should formulate a long-term plan to promote them and link these grains to the market.
However, Anand, the head of the IMD’s Ranchi centre, advises long-term planning based on the data. “In the past 25 years, Jharkhand has experienced eight years of below-normal rainfall — meaning there is a likelihood of drought, on average, every three years. Therefore, planning should be done with these figures in mind.”
Alam, associate professor at BAU, says, “In light of the changing climate, farmers should move away from calendar-based farming and focus on weather-based farming, since we receive weather information on a daily basis.”
This story was co-published with our Mongabay-Hindi team. You can read the story in Hindi here.
Banner image: Cracks appear in Basant Dangi’s dry fields in Pathalgada village, where he normally grows a paddy nursery. Image by Vishal Kumar Jain.
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