Weather woes: Farmers fear fall in yield, agri experts deny major damage to crop

As per the reports from meteorological departments, widespread rains and wind were reported in most parts of the state in past 48 hours

The rains and high-velocity winds witnessed during last couple of days have left the farmers worried as they claimed such weather at this stage could affect their yield.

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As per the reports from meteorological departments, widespread rains and wind were reported in most parts of the state in past 48 hours.

According to farmers, the untimely rains accompanied by strong winds have damaged standing crops in several parts of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and Kaithal districts. They complained that their crops have been flattened and this will lead to a fall in the yield — especially in the early varieties — as it would affect the growth of grain.

“Most of the crops are flattened. The grain will not grow normally,” said a farmer from Rajepur village of Karnal district, Balbir Singh.

“The rains have resulted in waterlogging in most of the low-lying areas and it will affect the yield. It will also increase the cost as the flattened crop cannot be harvested by combine harvesters,” said another farmer Pramod Kumar of Yamunanagar’s Raipur village.

However, experts and officials from the state agriculture department believe that the rain did not cast any major impact on the production of wheat.

“We don’t see any major impact of rain on wheat crop. It will result in only 5% to 10% loss in the flattened crops in Haryana,” said Dr Gyanendra Pratap Singh, director of Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal.

“There are no reports of major damage to crop in wheat-producing states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab as well. We are expecting a bumper wheat production of 108MT against the previous year’s 103MT,” he added.

Meanwhile, farm leaders have demanded special girdawari citing damage to the crops.

“Most of the crops have been flattened but the government is not ready to admit any loss to the crop. The government should order special girdawari without any delay to assess the losses due to rain and waterlogging,” said Haryana BKU president Ratan Mann.

Haryana state agriculture department claimed that as no reports of loss due to rain in northern parts of the state have emerged, there were no direction for special girdawari in those districts.

“Special girdawari will be conducted in the areas with possibility of more than 25% damage to crop,” said a senior officer of state agriculture department, pleading anonymity.

GIRDAWARI ORDERED

A Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) release stated that deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala has ordered special survey (girdawari) to assess the damage to the crops due to recent rains and hails. The release said that Dushyant made a statement in this context at Delhi while interacting with mediapersons.

SKY TO GET CLEAR FROM TODAY

With the minimum temperature settling at 12.1°C, Hisar on Friday witnessed 35.7mm rain. However, the sky remained cloudy. Scientists of meteorology and agriculture department located at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU) said that Sunday onwards, the skies will become clear, and ruled out the possibility of rain.

However, the 35.7mm rain in Hisar exposed the preparedness of the local civic body as the low-lying areas of the city submerged on Saturday. Many farmers whose crops have been damaged due to recent spell of rain thronged the mini-secretariat to deposit their crop-loss information.