Prolonged dry spell hits rabi sowing

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 12

The prolonged dry spell has badly affected the sowing of rabi crops, including wheat and barley, in the entire kandi belt of Jammu, bringing great distress to the farming community.

According to the Agriculture Department, the sowing of rabi crops on nearly 1.85 lakh hectares of land in the entire kandi belt, comprising Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Rajouri districts and parts of Udhampur, had been affected due to the dry spell which would have a “significant impact” on the yield of all rabi crops.

“We have a total of 2.48 lakh hectares of agricultural land in the Jammu region on which rabi crops are sown. Jammu has only 25 per cent irrigated area while the remaining chunk of the land is non-irrigated. Nearly 75 per cent area, which comes around 1.85 lakh hectares of land, has been badly affected by the prolonged dry spell,” Ashok Kumar Malhotra, Director, Agriculture, Jammu, told The Tribune.

He said, “The time of early sown varieties of crops is already gone and if there is no rainfall, chances of which seem to be bleak, it will be another blow for the farming community. We had a bumper paddy crop this year but the yield of rabi crops, particularly wheat, will be hit by the prevailing weather conditions.”

Malhotra advised the farmers that they should go for immediate sowing of “late varieties” if the region receives rainfall in the next few days.

A senior official of the Agriculture Department also said the prolonged dry spell had badly affected the rabi crops in non-irrigated areas. “Under normal weather conditions, wheat yield remains 20 to 22 quintals per hectare which is expected to be low this time. Last year, farmers had also suffered losses because of untimely rainfall,” the official said.

Mahender Singh, a senior scientist and in charge of the Agronomy Division of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, also shared similar concerns, saying, “The sowing of rabi crops is badly affected due to the prevailing dry weather conditions. We had a brief spell of rainfall on September 24 and since then the entire kandi belts has been without rain. The situation is worsening. The oil seed and pulses have also been hit by the vagaries of weather.”

The senior scientist added, “The sowing season for wheat, barley and oats, which was from November to first fortnight of December, has been largely hit due to dry conditions. The farmers, however, still have the opportunity to sow oil seed and pulses crops. They also have the opportunity to go for late sown wheat varieties which could yield something for them.”

Subash Sharma, a farmer of a village in the Kanyala area in Jammu district said, “We have sown wheat crop on two acres of land. The dry spell has caused worries among all farmers in the area and we are expecting low yield this time. We are not only worried about crop but also about the fodder for cattle.”