Negligible wheat arrival in grain markets of five districts of Haryana on Day 1

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, April 1

Most of the purchase centres in Hisar, Bhiwani, Jind, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts witnessed negligible wheat arrival on the first day of procurement today.

The state government has set up 408 purchase centres for wheat procurement, 103 for mustard, 25 for barley and 11 for gram

Advertisement

Sahib Ram, District Marketing Enforcement Officer of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board in Hisar, said though the procurement agencies had made their preparations, there was no arrival of wheat in the district today. “Due to rain, the harvesting season has also been delayed for a few days. It will take about a week for the wheat arrival to pick up pace in mandis for procurement,” he added.

Hassle-free purchase top priority

Smooth and hassle-free crop procurement is the state government’s top priority. That’s why the Administrative Secretaries have been appointed for the inspection of grain markets. A government spokesperson

In Bhiwani, Market Committee secretary Heera Singh shared a similar story and said there was no wheat arrival in the mandis today.

Similarly, the wheat arrival is yet to start in Fatehabad and Sirsa districts. While a few farmers brought wheat to the mandi in Jind district, but the procurement could not start due to moisture in the grain.

Meanwhile, farmers from several villages in Hisar, Bhiwani, Sirsa and Jind districts complained of a severe impact of hailstorm and rain on wheat and mustard crops. They demanded expeditious survey of the crop loss and compensation to the affected farmers.

A number of farmers from villages in the Adampur block visited the Hisar Deputy Commissioner’s office today. They said hailstorm had caused massive damage to wheat and mustard crops in their villages. Rajbir Singh, sarpanch of Ladwi village in Hisar, said their village suffered a loss of 80 to 90 per cent due to rain and hailstorm yesterday.

The delegation of farmers also brought hail to show to the district officials and demanded relief.

According to reports, hailstorm lashed several pockets in the region, including Bhiwani, Jind and Sirsa districts, yesterday. The farmers are a worried lot as they are waiting to harvest the ripened wheat and mustard crops in the state. They said they had suffered losses on the account of waterlogging and flattening of the wheat crop due to rain and strong winds.

Meanwhile, agriculture experts opined that rain would prove harmful to the crops that were ready to be harvested. Prof Om Prakash Bishnoi of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, said a good spell of rain would spell disaster for the farmers at this stage. “The wheat crop that has withstood the impact of rain and strong winds and seemed to have suffered minor losses due to flattening will be damaged if there is more precipitation in the next few days,” he added.