Rise in mercury worries farmers

Tribune News Service

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, February 18

The unusual rise in temperature, especially during the daytime, has worried farmers as they fear a decrease in yield. Farmers complained that day temperature was unusually high and it would result in ripening of the crop early.

“Grains start to shrink even before they have gained their full mass and as a result, overall produce would decrease,” said Joginder Singh, a farmer, adding that the weather condition had also increased the irrigation needs of crops.

Don’t ignore crops’ irrigation needs

The rise in temperature is certainly worrisome. Farmers are advised not to ignore irrigation needs of the crops, especially wheat. For better yield, farmers should also be cautious regarding diseases such as Karnal bunt and yellow rust. — Dr Jatinder Singh Gill, Chief agriculture officer

With wheat being a major crop of the season, it has been grown on an estimated area of 1.80 lakh hectares in the district. Farmers said last year too they had witnessed a decrease in the wheat yield as temperature had increased during mid-March.

They claimed that last year, wheat yield had dropped by up to five quintals. However, the reports by the district agriculture department assessed the loss to be around one quintal per acre.

“This time, as the weather has changed in mid-February, it is feared that the loss would be more than the last year,” said another farmer Balkar Singh. He said farmers have also cultivated mustard crop in their fields and are yet to know about the impact of rise in temperature on it.

Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Jatinder Singh Gill said: “The rise in temperature is certainly worrisome.” He said farmers were being advised not to ignore irrigation needs of the crops, especially wheat. He said for better yield, farmers should also be cautious regarding diseases such as Karnal bunt and yellow rust.

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