Dry spell persists, farmers worried

Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda/Ferozepur, Aug 17

The prolonged dry spell in the state is a cause for concern for farmers. And there seems to be no respite in sight, for the forecast indicates “increased rain deficiency” till August-end.

Experts say rain deficiency is not only going to increase the cost of production, but will also put pressure on the already over-stressed water table.

“There can be occasional thunderstorms coupled with slight rainfall, but there seems no possibility of incessant rainfall in the near future,” Surinder Pal Singh, Director, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Chandigarh, told The Tribune.

The state has witnessed a rainfall deficiency 15 per cent between June 1 and August 17. Against the average expected rainfall of 336.2 mm during this period, the state has received 284.8 mm this season — a shortfall of 15.2 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.

Farm experts say that humid weather minus rains is likely to increase pest attacks on paddy. “In Jalandhar and other parts of Doaba, paddy has already been damaged,” an expert says and adds “the impact of the whitefly attack could have been less severe if the Malwa region had received adequate rainfall. The pest larvae get washed away by rains, but it hasn’t happened this time because of lack of showers”.

Dr Lakhbir Kaur Dhaliwal, a professor of agricultural meteorology at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, says: “The prevailing weather conditions can wreak havoc with the farm economy if it doesn’t rain in the coming week.”

Dr BS Sidhu, Commissioner (Agriculture), says that at the surface, there seems to be no problem as farmers are getting eight hours of free power supply every day for irrigating their paddy fields.

But he adds, “The lack of rains is forcing farmers to concentrate only on watering the paddy during eight hours of power supply. They hardly pay attention to the irrigation of other crops such as cotton.”

As for basmati and vegetable growers of Ferozepur and Fazilka districts, they have incurred a loss of loss of up to 20 per cent.

Basmati has been damaged fully or partially in Kammikhera, Sainian, Muthianwali and Kabool Shah villages of Fazilka district, while vegetables such as bitter gourd and green chillis have been damaged by virus and pests.

“My bitter gourd was devastated by virus and pests, which thrive during high temperature and humid conditions,” said Ravi Kant, a progressive farmer from Fazilka’s Nihalkhera village.