Haryana: Fresh rainfall adds to farmers' woes

Karnal, March 31

Fresh rainfall in many parts of the state has added to the misery of farmers, already struggling to save their wheat crop from lodging and waterlogging for the past one week owing to spells of rain, accompanied with thunderstorm and hailstorm. As per agriculture experts, this rainfall will delay the harvest from 10 days to a fortnight.

Farmers said the flattening of the crop would not only affect the production, but also increase the input cost. “Rainfall with strong winds has already flattened the wheat crop. The fresh rainfall since Thursday night has increased our troubles. The flattened crop would only be harvested with the help of workers instead of machines,” said Ravinder Kumar, a farmer.

Drain excess water from fields

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We have issued an advisory for the farmers to drain the excess water from the fields. Farmers should wait for the maturity of the grain before harvesting. —Dr Gyandendra Singh, director, indian institute of wheat and barley research

Scientists of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) issued an advisory, urging farmers to salvage crops by draining water from their fields. The scientists also appealed to the farmers to wait for the proper maturity of the grains before harvesting. “We have issued an advisory for the farming community to drain the excess water from the fields. Farmers should wait for the maturity of the grain before harvesting,” said Dr Gyandendra Singh, Director, IIWBR.

Dr. Gurbachan Singh, chairman, task force constituted for the preparation of Kisan Kalyan Niti/ Farmers Welfare Policy with Vision 2047, and former chairperson Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), appealed to the farmers not to be panic and said that there might not be much reduction in the production if water was not stagnant and the field was not submerged. “There could be some changes of blackening of grains if the grains are submerged for a long time, so farmers are advised to drain off the water,” he added.

Dr Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA), Karnal, said usually the harvesting of wheat started from April 7 and picked up pace by April 15, but now due to the rainfall in the past 10 days, the harvesting could be delayed by 10-15 days.

Meanwhile, DC Anish Yadav directed officials of the Revenue Department to conduct a special girdawari to assess the loss. He himself visited Ghoghripur village to review the situation in the fields. He also appealed to the farmers to report the loss on the portal so that they could get compensation. The government will provide Rs 15,000 per acre for the loss above 75 per cent, while Rs 12,000 for the loss between 50 per cent and 75 per cent per acre, the DC added.