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Bhagwant Mann orders girdawari to assess damage to wheat crop
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday ordered girdawari of the wheat crop to assess the loss due to inclement weather and incessant rain in the state for the past three days.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday ordered girdawari of the wheat crop to assess the loss due to inclement weather and incessant rain in the state for the past three days.
CM announced this in a message on Twitter.
As per the preliminary report by the state agriculture department, the crop over 4 lakh hectares across the state has suffered damages due to rainfall that started on Saturday and continued till late on Monday night. Patiala, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Barnala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana districts suffered maximum damage.
“The widespread rainfall on Sunday and scattered showers on Monday damaged the crop. The damage was aggravated as the rain was accompanied by winds,” an officer in the state agriculture department said. An average of 20.6 mm of rainfall was reported in the state during these days.
This Rabi season wheat was sown on over 34.90 lakh hectares in the state, and the crop is at the maturing stage ready to be harvested in the next two-three weeks. The rainfall is expected to delay the harvest.
The state’s food and civil supplies department is gearing up for the grain procurement from April 1, however, it is now expected that the harvest and arrivals of grain at the mandis will be delayed at least by a week.
On Sunday the agricultural experts apprehended that more rainfall could damage the crop. Before the rainfall, the state agriculture department was predicting a bumper crop, with an estimated total yield of 165 lakh tonnes with around 132 lakh tonnes expected to arrive in mandis for purchase by the state government agencies and the Centre’s Food Corporation of India (FCI).
The revenue and agriculture department which conducts the girdawari is likely to submit the complied report in 10 to 15 days.
Last season around 13% of the wheat crop was lost due to late rainfall and sudden rise in temperatures when the crop was at a maturing stage. According to Gurvinder Singh, director, agriculture, the crop will recover if there is abundant sunlight after the rainfall. “The sunlight will help the crop in increasing the productivity,” he added.
Another spell of rain expected from March 23
The state meteorology department has predicted another spell of rainfall on March 23 and 24. “This could lead to more damage to the crop,” adds an official. The upcoming spell is predicted to be widespread and heavy rains are expected in southwest parts of the state.
Bajwa seeks compensation for farmers
Chandigarh Leader of opposition in Punjab (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday sought ₹20,000 per acre compensation for the farmers, whose wheat crops were severely damaged due to untimely thunderstorms and hailstorms in many parts of the state.
Bajwa said that in the wheat season last year, the farmers in many districts of Punjab suffered over 20% loss in yield.
“Chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s newly formed government last year did not even bother to conduct a survey to compensate the farmers for such a huge loss, despite the fact the AAP presented itself as a pro-farmers party before the assembly elections in 2022,” he claimed in a statement. Bajwa said that the government must consider last year’s loss and provide compensation to the farmers on a priority basis this year.
