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Wheat bears the brunt of freak rain, hailstorm
Though the exact figures regarding crop loss and the areas affected are yet to be ascertained, wheat is feared to have taken the most damage, in at least 20 districts; followed by mustard (12 districts).
: Unseasonal rain with strong winds and hailstorms experienced in many parts of Uttar Pradesh recently are believed to have caused significant damage to crops, especially wheat—the main Rabi crop in the state. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials concerned to assess the losses and compensate farmers accordingly.
Though the exact figures regarding crop loss and the areas affected are yet to be ascertained, wheat is feared to have taken the most damage, in at least 20 districts; followed by mustard (12 districts).
Stating that the loss assessment in districts was still on and reports were expected in a few days, agriculture department deputy director (statistics) Uma Shankar Singh said, “Based on initial field reports, we estimate that 5-7% of the wheat crop might has been damaged in 20 districts. The worst affected are Mathura, Bahraich, Varanasi, Lalitpur and Jhansi.”
The damage to wheat that had ripened was primarily caused due to its stems getting flattened by heavy winds.
“This year, wheat was sown in an area of 96 lakh hectares across the state,” he pointed out.
However, the impact on horticulture crops is said to be nominal, and even beneficial for some crops such as mango.
“At present, the main horticulture crop in U.P. is potato, most of which has already been dug out and shifted to cold storages and other places. So only a small percentage of potato yield might have suffered damages,” horticulture director RK Tomar said. Green peas, he said, were affected in the fields where there was waterlogging.
“Mango has only benefitted from rains in most places,” Tomar added.
Fresh spell of rain likely from Friday
The state experiencing unseasonal rains in March happens once every three to four years, weathermen said.
While the prevailing western disturbance was expected to phase out by Tuesday night, a fresh western disturbance is likely to be active over the state from March 23 under the impact of which some parts of western U.P. and isolated parts of eastern U.P. may experience rain on March 24 and 25, the Met department said.
Meanwhile, west U.P. received bountiful rainfall with Meerut recording 90 mm, Bareilly 85.2 mm and Bijnor 75 mm rains on Monday.
The department on Tuesday issued a warning of rain/thunderstorm with the possibility of lightning at isolated places across the state in the next 24 hours. Hailstorms, accompanied by strong winds (25-35 kmph), were predicted for western U.P.
On Monday, many parts of the state experienced light to moderate rains along with thunderstorms and lightning. The capital, Lucknow, experienced 20.6 mm rainfall, followed by Moradabad (17.4 mm), Gorakhpur (8.3 mm), Jhansi (5.6 mm), Ghazipur and Muzaffarnagar (5.4 mm) and Lakhimpur Kheri (3.2 mm).
Farmers demand compensation, stage dharna
Several affected farmers from the Bundelkhand region held dharnas in Jhansi, Lalitpur and Hamirpur, seeking financial assistance from the government.
In response to the dharna in Lalitpur, where a hailstorm struck 14 villages, district magistrate Alok Singh assured the farmers that a team of officials of the agriculture department, revenue department and insurance companies were working to assess the extent of losses.
In Madhwara village of Lalitpur, Lalwati and her family members said they had been trying to pump out water from the fields for 24 hours. She owns three bighas, all of which were marooned after the heavy rains on Friday.
In Hamirpur, wheat, masoor, chana and mustard were heavily damaged in the rain.
A former pradhan of Chabaria village in Meerut, Jagdish Singh, said wheat, potato and mustard crops were ready for harvesting, and more rains would only damage the yield. “Rains for another couple of days will directly affect the production of wheat and mustard.”
