Bathinda, June 28
Iqbal Singh sits in grief beside the paddy plants that have completely dried in his field at Amirgarh village. A drought-like situation has arisen because of no rain and massive power cuts.

A farmer sits at his paddy field which has dried up owing to no electricity and no rains at Amargarh village in Bathinda on Saturday. A Tribune photograph

There are several other farmers like Iqbal in and around the village on the Bathinda-Goniana road. They have suffered loss of the recently transplanted paddy saplings due to high temperature.

Iqbal had planted paddy on 10 acres and Bt cotton on four acres. The paddy plants over three acres have completely dried and he will have to replace these with fresh saplings. The problem is not that simple for him and other farmers because this season they have faced an acute shortage of migrant farm labour and had to pay an “exorbitantly high” rate of Rs 1,800 for transplanting paddy saplings on each acre.

Across the road in another field, Gurdial Singh mourns the death of paddy plants on his four-acre field.

Farmers of the area, who are supplied water from the Kot-Bhai distributary, had visualised the scarcity of water and about 60 of them got their own tube wells bored. But, power cuts ensure motors remain shut for most of the time. The canal water supply is insufficient to irrigate the paddy fields.

Certain farmers have now started running water pumps by attaching these to tractor engines. However, this is a costly proposition with 5 or 6 litres of diesel worth about Rs 200 has to be burnt to irrigate each acre, Gurdial says.

Farmers squatted on the road  yesterday to lodge their protest against frequent power cuts.

Malwa orchards threatened

Kulwinder Sandhu adds from Moga: Continuing dry weather conditions and a shortage of power have affected already sown summer crops, vegetables and fruit plantations. Orchards of citrus trees in Abohar, Malout and Fazilka areas may witness lower yield.

The hot temperature of June is harmful for fruit crops, specially newly planted saplings. According to horticulture experts, tree trunks directly exposed to intensive sun often cause damage to fruit plants. In dry weather conditions, tree trunks lose moisture, develop cracks and sometimes peel off completely and such damages eventually cause death of plants. Mango, litchi, citrus, guava and papaya are comparatively more prone to damage from hot weather conditions.

The experts have advised painting the lower tree trunks with white wash. The white wash can be prepared by dissolving 25 kg slaked lime, 500 gm copper sulphate and 500 gm of gum in 100 litres of water.

Meanwhile, officials of the Agriculture Department said only 45 per cent of paddy seedlings had been transplanted in the districts of Ferozepur, Moga, Faridkot, Muktsar, Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala and Sangrur in Malwa due to a lack of irrigation facilities.

The biggest problem for paddy has been high evaporation of water. The evaporation rate has gone up to more than 80 per cent in most of Malwa areas where the soil-retaining capacity of water is already very less compared to Majha and Doaba.

Monsoon is crucial for all summer crops like paddy, soybean, sunflower, moong, mash, sugarcane, cotton, vegetables and green fodder, besides the transplantation of new fruit variety saplings.

Agriculture experts say the prevailing dry weather conditions can also damage the already sown crops if they do not get proper water. The excessive heat has a deteriorating effect on cotton that is widely grown in Malwa. A yellow ring develops around the stem that is susceptible to bacteria and other disease pathogens. As a result, the stem wilts and plant dies.