Rain brings cheer to farmers

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 14

The recent two-day spell of rain is expected to boost growth of wheat crop in the district. The crop needs cold conditions to thrive and dip in the temperature will further help in improving the crop yield.

HS Lakhowal, general secretary of Bhartiya Kissan Union, said the rain would prove beneficial for the crop and farmers. “Wheat crop needs low temperature to thrive properly and with the maximum temperature dropping to 13°C, the conditions have become appropriate for the crop,” he said.

Balbir Singh Rajewal, another farmer from Samrala district, said many farmers who were planning another round of irrigation, but with the rain now, it need not be done. “The rain has irrigated the crop at a proper time and will boost its growth. Although no incident of water-logging has been reported in Ludhiana district, but at some places near Chandigarh, it has come to light. The stagnant water will cause trouble to farmers as it can damage the crop,” said Rajewal.

Prabhjot Kaur, head of department of climate change and agrometrology, said the rainfall that Ludhiana district had received in the last two days was moderate and it would not cause any harm to the crop. “The rainfall has only helped in irrigating the crop and farmer’s work of irrigation has been done by the rain,” she said.

Air index improves

Patiala: A mild spell of rain here has brought cheer to wheat growers, who say it will help the crop. Wheat growers are rejoicing the change as showers are expected to be good for the crop. Cold weather conditions have brought relief to the farming community.

This rabi season, farmers in the region have sown wheat, barley, mustard, sunflower, pulses, and beans. At present, around 2.34 lakh hectare area is under wheat cultivation across the district.

Meanwhile, the impact of the rain also helped in improving the air quality of the state with the air index fluctuating between ‘moderate’ from the ‘poor to very poor’ category. Patiala air index improved from the 281 recorded on December 11 to 82 on Friday, while the Punjab AQI read an impressive 67 as compared to the 241 on December 11.

Drain out excess water from potato fields: Experts

Jalandhar: The Doaba region mostly has potato crop around this time. Horticulture Development Officer Paramjit Singh said, “We advised the potato growers to drain out any excess rainwater that could stand in the fields. We gave the same advice to pea growers. Thankfully, it did not rain much.”