Farmers cautioned on yellow rust : The Tribune India

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Experts have told farmers to remain vigilant as humidity may lead to occurrence of yellow rust. Sayeed Ahmed

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 8

The rain that has been lashing the region for the last three days has brought cheers to farmers as experts have opined it is conducive for wheat crop.

However, scientists of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) and experts of the Agriculture Department asked farmers to remain vigilant as humidity may lead to occurrence of yellow rust, which may hamper the production if precautionary measures are not taken. They told farmers not to allow stagnation of water in fields, which may lead to yellowing of crops and asked them to drain off excessive water from the fields.

“The rain has saved farmers of irrigation. Now they need not irrigate the crop for at least 15 days. If the rain continues, farmers should not allow stagnation of water, which may lead to losses due to yellowing of crops,” said Dr Anuj Kumar, Principal Scientist, IIWBR.

“At present, the crop is at growing stage and rain is a boon for it, but it should not last for longer duration. If it continues, the wheat crop may be affected,” he said, adding that if the temperature remains cool up to the end of March then there could be better production and if the temperature rises eventually in March, it could hamper the production of wheat.

“Wheat has been cultivated around 25 lakh hectares and in Karnal it is cultivated in 1.78 lakh hectares,” said Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA), adding that the present climatic conditions were favourable for the crop.

The country had produced 102.19 million tonne (MT) of the crop in 2018-19, surpassing the production of 99.7 MT in 2017-18 and 98.5MT in 2016-17. In the last rabi season, the wheat target was 100 million tonnes, while now the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has set a target of 101 million tonnes of wheat for the current season, he added. “We are hopeful the country will produce 105 million tonnes of wheat as the area under wheat has increased in the country by 10 per cent,” said Dr Anuj.