E-Paper
Second spell of rain disrupts paddy harvesting across Haryana
According to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) evening bulletin, Indri sub-division of Karnal reported 62 mm rain between 8.30 am of Wednesday and 5.30 pm of Thursday, highest in the state
Prefer HTon Google
Untimely rain accompanied by strong winds disrupted paddy and Bajra harvesting and procurement across Haryana on Thursday with soaking heaps of procured and unprocured grain lying in open mandis.
Waterlogging, inadequate covered storage and sluggish government purchases in various mandis of the state have compounded farmers’ woes amid rising moisture levels in the produce.
According to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) evening bulletin, Indri sub-division of Karnal reported 62 mm rain between 8.30 am of Wednesday and 5.30 pm of Thursday, highest in the state.
Similarly, Panipat district recorded 53 mm of rain, Ambala and Sonepat districts also recorded 42 mm rain during the same period.
38 mm rain was reported in Kaithal, 19 mm in Jind, 18 mm in Sirsa, 9.5 mm in Fatehabad and 7.7 mm in Hisar.
As per the IMD’s Chandigarh centre, the state has reported 14.2 mm rain, which is higher than the normal rainfall of 2.4 mm in the week between October 9 and 15.
With much of the harvested produce lying in the open because of inadequate covered storage, growers said they faced the prospect of additional expenditure, distress sales and mounting financial pressure at a crucial stage of the procurement season. As per the state’s e-Kharid portal a total 21.66 lakh MT paddy arrived in the Mandis of the state only 15.39 lakh MT has been procured but only 8.69 lakh MT has been lifted as rest was still lying in the mandis.
The rain has compounded the difficulties of farmers who have been waiting for government agencies to procure their produce. While wet grain will have to be dried before it can be sold, farmers fear that higher moisture content and a possible loss of lustre could lead to rejection at procurement centres or force them to accept lower prices from private buyers and commission agents.
In Uchana in Jind district, farmers estimated that rain-related losses could reach 50-60% in the affected produce, with much of the paddy lying in the open. They said it could take more than a week for the soaked grain to dry sufficiently for sale, delaying payments and disrupting the harvesting cycle.
Farmer Sumit Kumar said water accumulated in the Uchana grain market, where paddy lying in the open was drenched. He alleged that some of the produce was washed away through a drain into a camp, while standing crops in fields were also flattened.
Mandi Secretary Yogesh, however, maintained that water had not accumulated anywhere in the market. He said blocked drains had been cleared, accumulated water was drained and open heaps of paddy covered with tarpaulins.
In Rohtak, rain drenched both paddy and bajra lying in the open at the grain market, aggravating farmers’ difficulties amid slow government procurement and limited covered storage facilities.
Farmers demanded the construction of adequate sheds at grain markets, arguing that farmers were repeatedly forced to keep their produce under the open sky during both the paddy and wheat procurement seasons.
According to the farmers the rain has also raised concerns about the standing crop, with farmers reporting that mature paddy had fallen at several places in the district due to strong winds.
Farmer leader Balwan Singh alleged that farmers were being caught between official procurement requirements and private buyers taking advantage of their helplessness.
Karnal farmer leader Bahadur Mehla, who inspected a few grain markets in the district to check damage due to rain, said, “On one side government failed to ensure purchase and farmers have been waiting for over a week to get their crop sold, and now on the other side, the second spell of rain this week has completely damaged the crop.” “There is no purchase and no lifting in the whole district due to the absence of rice millers till a few days ago and mandis are full with crop,” he added.
Officials said that the rain will not only increase the moisture content in the crop, but will also delay the already late purchase at the mandis as well as the harvesting in the fields, which is still below 50%.
Spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union BKU Charuni, Rakesh Bains said that the rain has now further postponed the sowing of potato, which was set to begin in Kurukshetra belt of the state, where the paddy harvesting was already at full pace.
Ambala farmer leader Tejveer Singh demanded that the government must conduct field surveys to access crop damage to compensate the farmers immediately.
Meanwhile, the weather department said that following the rain, there is a fall of minus 5.3°C in average maximum temperature in the state and was marked below normal by minus 6.2°C in the state.
The lowest minimum temperature in the state was 17.6 °C, recorded at Ambala.
