Use heaters to keep crops safe, MP govt advises farmers

Absurd as it may seem but that is exactly what the Madhya Pradesh government has advised the state’s farmers, leaving the community scratching their collective head in bewilderment.

When it’s too cold, use a heater. Well...err, use a heater to keep the crop warm.

Madhya-pradesh-farmers

Absurd as it may seem but that is exactly what the Madhya Pradesh government has advised the state’s farmers, leaving the community scratching their collective head in bewilderment.

The advisory is part of a six-point to-do list issued to the farming community as a newspaper advertisement earlier this week, asking them to use heaters, if possible, in farmland with high-value horticulture and condiment crops.

The state experienced severe cold conditions in the first few days of the month with maximum temperatures hovering 8 to ten degree Celsius below normal. Though the weather has improved, the Met department said that both day and night temperatures are still below normal.

Farming experts said that drop in temperatures affects pulses and horticulture crops like papaya and banana but impacts wheat only if the exposure is prolonged. Condiments, however, are not commonly grown in MP.

Ghanshyam Yadav, owner of a 30-acre farmland in Jamunia, about 30km from Bhopal, felt the advisory was unrealistic even if they had a “heater”. “We do not get regular power supply for even domestic use,” he said.

Shivkumar Sharma, president of a breakaway faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, said that such advisory exposed the level of sensitivity, knowledge and seriousness of the agriculture department towards agriculture.