Farmers panic after Amritsar district witnesses untimely rain

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 16

Intermittent showers during the past two days have created panic among wheat growers as they fear that more rain could damage the ready to harvest crop. Jeevan Singh, a farmer from Naushera village near here, said showers at the time of harvesting were bad for the wheat crop. They said the rain would damage grains in already flattened crop.

Farmers said showers led to loss of lustre in the flattened crop which created a problem in selling it. Another farmer from the same village said in some fields, wheat grains had germinated due to more moisture. He said untimely rains during the wheat harvesting cause heavy losses to farmers.

Agriculture officials said as the weather remained clear on Tuesday, wheat harvesting would pick up pace. “With two to three days of sunlight, wheat crop will be ready for harvesting as the moisture in grains will evaporate,” said Jatinder Singh Gill, chief agriculture officer. He said showers in large parts of the district were moderate and had not caused much damage to the crop.

He said officials had been asked to prepare a ground report regarding any loss in wheat fields due to rains. He said preliminary reports suggested negligible damage to the crop due to recent rains. He said wheat crop in one per cent fields had flattened earlier due to fast winds. “It is yet to be seen that how much damage fields have suffered. The exact loss will be clear only after wheat is harvested,” he said.

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