PUNE: State Agriculture Minister Anil Bonde during a press conference held in the city of Friday said, “Even though there was no rainfall last week, it is unlikely that there will be a requirement of double sowing. However, if there is any need, the State Government will provide full support to the farmers.” 

He also mentioned that in the last week of July or first week of August, artificial rain experiment will be conducted in Solapur, Aurangabad and Nagpur.

He further said, “The State Government is all set to help the farmers with double sowing if needed. We will also provide seeds to the farmers if required.”

He said, “Today I went to India Meteorological Department (IMD) and spoke to the experts there. The Doppler radars will be made available for artificial rain project for covering the radius of 400 km area of the three cities. Although this project would turn out to be expensive, it is a better option than spending thousands of crores for drought relief.”

Bonde also said that apart from paddy, the sowing of other crops is fine. He mentioned that there were no complaints about the scarcity of seeds and fertilisers. He also added that around 15 lakh farmers in Pune division have registered under the Pant Pradhan Kisan Sanman scheme. Farmers have also received 100 per cent amount under the Peek Beema Yojana.