PATNA: The Patna Meteorological Centre, in its bulletin on Thursday afternoon, issued forecast for rainfall at a few places in the state from Saturday to Monday. Majority of places in south Bihar are likely to witness dry weather on Friday.
After a long, dry phase of monsoon, Patna and few other districts received light showers on Thursday. However, the rainfall in none of the districts touched double-digit figure, thus there was hardly any respite for the farmers eagerly waiting for good rain to support the ongoing paddy cultivation.
The places which received rainfall included, Patna (8.6mm), Chhapra (2.2mm), Supaul (2.2mm), Jamui (2mm), Vaishali (2mm) and Sitamarhi (1.5mm).
As on date, Bihar is facing a deficiency of a whopping 40% in monsoon rainfall this year. The state has received 193.2mm of rainfall from June 1 to July 14 against the normal rainfall of 324mm during the same period, making it 40% below normal rainfall.
As per the data on the official website of India Meteorological Department (IMD), as many as 35 out of total 38 districts received deficient rainfall (-20 to -59%) so far, including large deficient (-60% and above) in 11 districts.
The deficient and uneven distribution of rainfall has adversely affected cultivation of Kharif crops.
Officials in agriculture department claimed that the transplantation of paddy saplings has been done on around 20% of the targeted area in the state.
