Rain brings cheer to paddy growers in Ambala

Ambala, June 19

A spell of rain on Monday evening brought cheer to the paddy farmers in Ambala. As the paddy sowing is on, the farmers need to irrigate their fields by running tubewells and rain will help them in not using their tubewells.

Nearly 86,000-hectare land is covered under paddy in Ambala every year.

However, the rain will affect the remaining harvesting of sunflower and maize crops in the district.

Malkit Singh, Ambala president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) said: “Rain is good for paddy crop as it requires a huge amount of water. Running tubewell is a costly affair as the farmers need to run it for hours to irritate the fields, but the rain has provided the required irrigation. It will also save the groundwater. However, the rain is not good for the sunflower and maize crops as it will not only delay the harvesting but also will affect the produce lying in grain markets.”

Deputy Director Agriculture Jasvinder Singh said: “Rain is good for the paddy and sugarcane crops, but at the same time, the harvesting of sunflower and maize will get affected. Around 18,000 acre was under sunflower, of which just around 3 to 4 per cent is pending, while around 4,000 hectare was under maize cultivation, of which harvesting of around 5 per cent is pending.”