Freak weather conditions affect sweetness of muskmelons, watermelons

Tribune News Service

Parveen Arora

Karnal, May 31

Unfavourable weather conditions during May have reduced the sweetness of muskmelons and watermelons. As per farmers, the extreme weather events have ruined the crop, resulting in heavy losses to them.

“Untimely rainfall, thunderstorm and frequent heatwaves have affected the melon crops. It has not only reduced its sweetness, but has also affected the yield. Due to this, I could not even get the input cost,” said Rohtash, a farmer of Nagla. “In many places, melons were destroyed to such an extent that they were in no condition to sell,” added Rohtash, who cultivated melon crop on three acres of land.

Savej, a UP farmer who has cultivated the crop in 16 acres of land in Chirao village, has the same story to narrate. He said that untimely rainfall and dip in temperature have jointly damaged the crop and made it tasteless, due to which he has to suffer huge losses.

“The melons being cultivated near the Yamuna are famous in the region for its taste, but the adverse climatic conditions have played a spoilsport, leading to losses to farmers,” said Raj Kumar, a farmer.

Shiv Kumar, another farmer, said cloudy weather and humidity make the crop susceptible to diseases, which dries the plant and damages the fruit. “A similar situation prevails in the current season. This has reduced the production and we are unable to recover even the input cost,” he added.

Some farmers have already stopped growing melons and have switched to other crops. “Due to unprecedented climatic conditions in the past few years, I have stopped cultivating melons and have started cultivating other crops,” said Rajesh Kumar.