Patiala March 31:
High-velocity winds accompanied by hailstorm and an incessant spell of rain for a couple of hours last night damaged the almost ripened wheat crop in villages across Patiala and surrounding areas.
With farmers demanding a special girdwari, the administration may write to the government to look into their losses and order payment of adequate compensation. Reports reaching the district headquarters said that the hailstorm had flattened standing wheat crop in numerous villages of the district with Patran, Devigarh, Nabha and Samana being the worst hit.
The authorities are worried about the procurement of wheat that is expected to start in a few days from now. “The crop will need some more time to dry up after these rains and at some places the wheat crop has flattened due to winds,” claimed an official of the Punjab Mandi Board. According to Aagriculture Department officials, villages in the Shutrana, Patran, Baran, Darauli, Amloh, Nabha area are the worst hit where the standing crop has been damaged. “The entire report will be available with us in a few days,” they added.
For farmers in Devigarh, the rain has poured hell as almost the entire crop, standing near these fields, is flattened along with vegetables. Meanwhile, some of the farmers who had already harvested a part of their wheat crop and were already in mandis for sale, said that the rain caught them unawares and their wheat was now wet. Gurdeep Singh Mann adds from Fatehgarh Sahib: Hailstorm damaged wheat crop up to 50 per cent in different villages here on Tuesday night.
Officials of the Agriculture Department said that wheat crop from 10 to 50 per cent was damaged due to hailstorm backed by rain and high-speed winds in different villages. Maximum damage has been done in 17 villages of Khera block where wheat yield up to 50 per cent is likely to reduce owing to the hailstorm. Besides Khera block, villages falling under Bassi Pathana, Sirhind and Khamano blocks also got affected.
Rajnish, a farmer from Bora village under Khera block, said the entire crop in his village and nearby areas got affected due to last night’s high-speed wind and continuous rain. The crop got completely flattened. The grains of wheat crop were ripening at this stage. Nasib Singh, a farmer from Sidhupur village, said farmers who had sown early wheat varieties were the most affected as their crop was nearly ripe.
Besides the yield would also reduce to mere five to 10 quintals in an acre instead of normal 20 acres, said the farmers. Once flattened, the wheat crop could not be harvested with combine machines and is quite difficult to harvest manually. As a result, labourers charge more than double to harvest the flattened crop. Paramjit Singh, a farmer from Jalvehri village, said cereals, vegetables and green fodder also got damaged in villages of Fatehgarh Sahib due to the hailstorm last night.
Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) Bhagwant Singh Walia admitted that the hailstorm proved quite harmful for the wheat crop and the maximum damage was done to the early-sown varieties. The ADO did not rule out probability of diseases in crop if rusty weather persists for the next couple of days.
High-velocity winds accompanied by hailstorm and an incessant spell of rain for a couple of hours last night damaged the almost ripened wheat crop in villages across Patiala and surrounding areas.
With farmers demanding a special girdwari, the administration may write to the government to look into their losses and order payment of adequate compensation. Reports reaching the district headquarters said that the hailstorm had flattened standing wheat crop in numerous villages of the district with Patran, Devigarh, Nabha and Samana being the worst hit.
The authorities are worried about the procurement of wheat that is expected to start in a few days from now. “The crop will need some more time to dry up after these rains and at some places the wheat crop has flattened due to winds,” claimed an official of the Punjab Mandi Board. According to Aagriculture Department officials, villages in the Shutrana, Patran, Baran, Darauli, Amloh, Nabha area are the worst hit where the standing crop has been damaged. “The entire report will be available with us in a few days,” they added.
For farmers in Devigarh, the rain has poured hell as almost the entire crop, standing near these fields, is flattened along with vegetables. Meanwhile, some of the farmers who had already harvested a part of their wheat crop and were already in mandis for sale, said that the rain caught them unawares and their wheat was now wet. Gurdeep Singh Mann adds from Fatehgarh Sahib: Hailstorm damaged wheat crop up to 50 per cent in different villages here on Tuesday night.
Officials of the Agriculture Department said that wheat crop from 10 to 50 per cent was damaged due to hailstorm backed by rain and high-speed winds in different villages. Maximum damage has been done in 17 villages of Khera block where wheat yield up to 50 per cent is likely to reduce owing to the hailstorm. Besides Khera block, villages falling under Bassi Pathana, Sirhind and Khamano blocks also got affected.
Rajnish, a farmer from Bora village under Khera block, said the entire crop in his village and nearby areas got affected due to last night’s high-speed wind and continuous rain. The crop got completely flattened. The grains of wheat crop were ripening at this stage. Nasib Singh, a farmer from Sidhupur village, said farmers who had sown early wheat varieties were the most affected as their crop was nearly ripe.
Besides the yield would also reduce to mere five to 10 quintals in an acre instead of normal 20 acres, said the farmers. Once flattened, the wheat crop could not be harvested with combine machines and is quite difficult to harvest manually. As a result, labourers charge more than double to harvest the flattened crop. Paramjit Singh, a farmer from Jalvehri village, said cereals, vegetables and green fodder also got damaged in villages of Fatehgarh Sahib due to the hailstorm last night.
Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) Bhagwant Singh Walia admitted that the hailstorm proved quite harmful for the wheat crop and the maximum damage was done to the early-sown varieties. The ADO did not rule out probability of diseases in crop if rusty weather persists for the next couple of days.
