Rain boosts paddy sowing in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, July 27

With the widespread rain that lashed the district on Tuesday, paddy transplantation has picked up pace in Karnal district, known as rice bowl of the country.

Almost the entire district witnessed a downpour and around 35 mm rainfall was reported from the district on Tuesday.

The showers brought cheer to the farmers who had been waiting for pre-monsoon rain due to unprecedented electricity cuts. Besides, the rain also gave much-needed relief to the residents from the scorching heat by giving a 5°C dip in temperature.

Farmers are hopeful that if the rain continues in the coming days, a bumper paddy crop would be produced. Paddy transplantation had started on June 15, but a large number of farmers were waiting for rain. With fresh rainfall, paddy transplantation has picked up pace.

Experts from the Meteorological Department of Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) are predicting the arrival of monsoon on June 30 in Haryana.

Officials of the Agriculture Department are expecting that paddy would be sown in around 1.68 lakh hectares compared to 1.72 lakh hectares last year. 

With this rainfall, it is expected that around 50 per cent paddy sowing would be completed in the 2-3 days. “This spell of rain will help farmers in paddy sowing and also in recharging the water table. This rain is a boon for paddy as after these showers, the crop will not require water for around 4-5 days,” said Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA). “We are hopeful that the coming days will also witness rain in the region,” he said.

About the expected decline in area under paddy, he said that paddy transplantation has just started and they have fixed a target of 1.68 lakh hectares of paddy transplantation.

“We were waiting for the rain and the heavy rain that lashed the district yesterday has made us happy. I have started sowing paddy in my fields,” said Surinder Doda, a farmer of Nigdhu village. Another farmer from Karsa village, Rajesh Kumar, said the monsoon would help them in paddy sowing.