Rain, strong winds leave wheat, kinnow growers in Punjab worried

Lodging of wheat crop reported from across south Malwa, while flowering kinnow trees face the brunt in orchards

Rain accompanied with strong winds on Tuesday flattened wheat crop nearing maturity and caused damage in kinnow orchards where trees are in the flowering stage in south Punjab, leaving growers worried.

A farmer showing his field of wheat crop that was damaged after a spell of rain accompanied with strong winds at Gobindpura village in Bathinda district on Tuesday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

Farm experts say irrigated wheat fields may suffer up to 10% drop in yield and losses are feared only if the crop witnesses heavy rain or hailstorm.

According to the Punjab Agricultural University’s observatory at the Bathinda-based regional research centre, south Malwa witnessed winds with a velocity of 40-45km/hour early on Tuesday.

“Most parts of the region experienced light showers. South Punjab may witness winds with 20km/hour velocity and another spell of showers is forecast by Tuesday night,” said Raj Kumar, an agrometeorology scientist at PAU.

Wheat farmers want

crop loss assessed

Farmers such as Tejinder Singh of Gobindpura village in Bathinda district have expressed the fear of a comprehensive loss of his wheat crop sown on seven acres.

“I was hoping for a good wheat harvest, but the winds have led to lodging of the crop,” he said.

Another wheat grower, Hakam Singh, said the government should initiate crop loss assessment to support farmers ahead of the harvesting season. “Inclement weather will lead to a loss of more than 25% of the produce. Grains were in the final stage of maturity and harvesting is expected to begin in a fortnight,” said the elderly farmer.

Can regain position if weather

stays clear now: Kinnow grower

Abohar-based orchardist Arvind Setia said the sudden change in weather had affected the kinnow trees. “The citrus orchards are at the flowering stage and stormy weather for more than three hours past midnight has done considerable damage to the crop that is at the initial stage. Kinnow plants have another week of flowering. We can regain the position if the weather does not get rough again,” Setia said.

GP Singh, the director of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research laboratory, in Karnal, said the present climatic condition is not hostile to wheat.

“Irrigating wheat fields at a time when harvesting is less than three weeks away, is not recommended. Limited crop loss may be recorded in the waterlogged fields but overall, the ongoing climatic conditions are highly conducive. We expect a record pan-India production of 112 million metric tonnes of wheat,” said GP Singh.

Farmers told to drain out water

from fields to reduce damage

Farmers of Majha region fear the lodging of wheat in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts due to rain and strong winds on Tuesday may reduce the crop yield.

Teams of the state agriculture department are conducting a survey to ascertain the damage.

Amritsar chief agricultural officer Kuljit Singh Saini, who holds the additional charge of Tarn Taran, said, “I’ve visited the affected areas. The rain and winds have definitely damaged the crop because it was close to maturity. Farmers are advised to drain out water from fields to lessen the damage.”

Wheat has been sown on 1.84 lakh hectares in Tarn Taran and almost the same area in Amritsar district.

Pargat Singh, a farmer of Loharka village in Amritsar, said, “We are at the mercy of the weather.”

(With inputs from HTC, Amritsar)