Bathinda, February 22
A spell of frost in the initial phases and sudden increase in temperature in the later stages of Rabi season has spurred apprehensions of 15 to 20 per cent production loss among wheat farmers of the region.

Talking to The Tribune, Jasbir Singh of Burj Sehma village, who has sown wheat on 9 acres of land, said: “Frost in December-end and January has already taken a toll on wheat and with mercury shooting up unexpectedly, our losses are set to increase.”

He said prevailing weather conditions were not conducive for good wheat crop and if the trend continued in the coming days it would spell doom for the farmers.

Kalkata Singh of Manak Khana village lamented that they didn't get good DAP and gypsum, which play a key role in boosting quality of wheat, from the market.

“A majority of DAP available in the market is costly but substandard. It has less phosphorus content and about half of it is merely sand.

“Farmers have no option but to use DAP that is full of deficiencies,” he rued.

Harjinder Singh, a farmer from Charat Singh Wala village, said he also witnessed signs of a pest attack (jassid) which didn't augur well for their wheat crop.

Gurlal Singh of Teona Pujaria village said the government should treat it as a case of natural calamity as freaky weather had done the maximum damage.

The farmers sought adequate compensation from the government in case of any crop loss.

On the other hand, sources in agriculture department said they were yet to receive any official report of damage to wheat crop, but admitted that hot weather was having an adverse impact on the crop and it was turning yellow at a few places.