Farmers can delay wheat harvesting till Apr 20: ICAR

Farmers can delay wheat harvesting till April 20 without incurring any major losses as temperature in the growing states is still below the long-term average, government

Farmers can delay wheat harvesting till April 20 without incurring any major losses as temperature in the growing states is still below the long-term average, government research body, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), said on Tuesday. This would give farmers enough time to manage logistics for procurement and announcement of dates, it added. Normally, wheat harvesting begins from March-end. The ICAR has also advised farmers to take precautions against the coronavirus.

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The government has pegged a record wheat output of 106.21 million tonne in 2019-20 crop year (July-June) on the back of good rain as against 103.6 million tonne in the previous year.

ICAR added that the movement of combine harvesters within the state and between states is permitted, and asked farmers to ensure that the workers engaged in repair, maintenance and harvesting operation adopt safety measures for coronavirus. Currently, manual harvesting of mustard, the second most important rabi crop, was underway and threshing is due wherever it is already harvested.

ICAR said harvesting of lentils, maize and chillies was in progress, while that of grams is fast approaching. Sugarcane harvesting is also at its peak, while it is also time for manual planting in the north.

In its advisory, the agri-research body asked farmers to engage only ‘familiar persons to the extent possible and after reasonable enquiry as to avoid the entry of any suspect or likely carrier (of the coronavirus) during field activity.’

“Prefer mechanised operations over manual wherever feasible. Only essential numbers of persons should be allowed to accompany the machine,” it said.

In case of manual field operations of harvesting/ picking, accomplish the operation in 4-5 feet spaced strips assigning one strip to one person. This will ensure adequate spacing between the engaged labours, it added.

ICAR further asked farmers to stagger field operations wherever possible, and avoid engaging more number of persons on the same day.

“All the persons engaged should use masks and ensure hand washing with soap at reasonable intervals. Maintain safe distance of 3-4 feet during rest, taking of meals, transfer of produce at collection point, loading/unloading,” it said.

With regard to rabi paddy, ICAR said the crop in southern states has been widely affected due to ‘’neck blast’’ disease. Therefore, adequate precautions should be taken while spraying of recommended fungicide by contract sprayers/ farmers.

ICAR said farm machines and implements should be sanitised at entry point and at regular intervals. All transport vehicles, gunny bags or other packaging material should also be sanitised

The collection of the produce may be done in small heaps spaced at 3-4 feet and field level processing should be assigned to 1-2 persons/heap to avoid crowding. Copious washing of machine parts, frequently touched, with soaps is advised, it added.

Strap/Blurb

Govt research body says temperature is below long-term average and thus late harvesting will not mean any major losses