Double whammy for growers

Our Correspondent

Kaithal, April 26

Rain, accompanied by strong winds, not only damaged wheat in mandis, but also hampered harvesting at many places in the district.

Already, farmers are finding it difficult to sell their produce, and now untimely rain has resulted in accumulation of water in fields.

Officials of procurement agencies are also worried as wheat-soaked cannot be stocked in godowns. They can’t even open the bags and dry the wheat, given the heavy rush in mandis.

Now, farmers won’t be able to bring rain-soaked wheat to mandis for a few days. “It’s a double whammy for us,” said farmers, adding that government policies had already made things difficult for them and now with rain damaging the produce, they wondered how they would cope with the loss.

Meanwhile, government agencies purchased 1.84 lakh MT of wheat till Saturday evening, said Deputy Commissioner Sujan Singh.