Untimely rain spells misery for Punjab farmers
Ludhiana, October 11
Rain in the past couple of days has damaged the paddy and cotton crops in the state. According to experts, this could lead to delay in harvesting of the crop by 7-10 days.
Lack of sheds hits growers at grain markets
- Patiala: Farmers awaiting procurement of their paddy at grain markets in Patiala were in for an unpleasant surprise when it suddenly started raining on Monday.
- The intermittent rain since then has affected the crop brought for purchase due to the lack of sheds.
- At the Sanaur grain market, farmer Waryam Singh said he had been awaiting procurement for days. “It has now got delayed further due to high moisture in grains. The rain has played spoilsport because of the lack of proper sheds at the market,” he said. TNS
“The unexpected rainfall has affected the crop and will cause damage to both the crops, which were at the juncture of harvesting. The amount of damage caused by the rainfall cannot be measured at this stage as different areas have received different amount of rainfall,” said Dr KK Gill, Principal Agrometeorologist, Punjab Agricultural University.
“The rainfall was not beneficial for the crop as the crop was mature. For the coming days, the weather is expected to be clear and dry which will be a big sigh of relief for the farmers,” said Dr Gill.
“The untimely rain will delay the harvesting of paddy. My crop was flattened due to rain. The untimely rain will also delay wheat sowing. The cost of harvesting, too, will increase,” said Sukhdev Singh, a farmer from Bagli Khurd village.
Cotton crop is grown mostly in the southwest part of the state, which has been damaged. “Earlier cotton crop was damaged by whitefly and now the untimely rain had affected the fluffs, which were in full bloom and can lead to quality issue as well,” said Nek Singh, a farmer from Muktsar.
Meanwhile, rain also bought misery for those farmers who bought harvested paddy to grain market for procurement. Farmers are demanding compensation from the government for their losses due to dwarf crop and now untimely rainfall.
