Govt tells farmers to drain out excess water from fields

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, September 25

The state Agriculture Department has advised farmers to drain out excess water from low-lying areas which got stagnated due to heavy rains in the past few days to prevent damage to cotton, paddy, maize and horticultural crops.

Though moderate to heavy rainfall at the fag end of the monsoon season is good for paddy, it may lead to pest infestation in low-lying areas where water has accumulated. Jaswinder Singh Brar, Block Agricultural Officer, Sehna, Barnala district, said there has been a mixed impact of the ensuing rainfall on crops across the state. The farmers who had gone for early planting of paddy may suffer losses but overall, it will be beneficial for those who opted for late planting as per the government’s schedule. In some pockets of Punjab, the paddy crop is ready for harvest, he said.

“As far as the cotton crop is concerned, the stagnated water in the fields is of no use. The farmers must look out for ways to drain out the excess water from the cotton fields because the crop is ready for harvest,” Brar said. The cotton-growing areas of Bathinda and Mansa districts got a good rainfall a couple of days back.

Brar said in the low-lying areas, the farmers need not worry provided more rains do not lash the region. But if it rains again in the next couple of days, then they must drain out the excess water from their fields, he said. However, bright sunshine on Tuesday is being seen as a good sign for farmers. The excess water in most of the fields, except the low-lying areas, has evaporated to a great extent or has been absorbed in the soil. Meanwhile, the agriscientists have also claimed that the recent rainfall was good for kinnow-growers in Abohar, Malout and the adjoining areas. The farmers are irrigating their kinnow orchards these days. Now, they need not irrigate them anymore, the agriscientists said.