Wheat sowing getting delayed due to weather conditions in Amritsar
Foggy weather conditions have forced farmers to delay the sowing of wheat crop. Due to lack of proper sunshine, there is excess moisture in the paddy fields which has delayed the sowing. Nearly 50 per cent of the fields in Amritsar and Tarn Taran are still lying empty as farmers are waiting for the moisture level to decrease.
Most of the farmers had earlier irrigated their fields as the level of moisture was not optimum. However, with less sunshine for the past 10 days, their plans to sow wheat on time has been hit hard.
Usually, farmers try to finish sowing of wheat by November 15 due to decrease in temperature later on which is not conducive for germination of seeds. Delay in sowing of wheat by each week would cost a loss of one to 1.5 quintals of yield as with further decrease in temperature, the germination of seeds would be impacted.
Kuljeet Singh of Malawali village said, “In my village, people have been waiting for fog to clear. We hardly see 15-20 minutes of sunshine in a day and it is not helping in drying the fields.” He added that a large number of farmers are yet to sow the crop.
Another farmer, Harpal Singh from Chogawan said, “This had been an unusually hard year for farming community. Firstly, we faced problem in selling paddy and then came the shortage of DAP. Now the weather is unfriendly.” He added that two or three sunny days would be required to decrease the moisture content in the soil.
Chief Agriculture Officer Tajinder Singh said weather is expected to be clear of fog after today’s mild showers. He said farmers should use plough in the fields to loosen the soil so that evaporation of moisture increases. He added that once the weather would clear, sowing would pick up pace.
