IMD predicts more farm damage as raging blizzard likely in J&K, HP, Uttarakhand today
The hailstorm and rainfall that lashed Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday may damage the ongoing standing rabi crops, including wheat cultivation. The national Capital was also whipped by severe hailstorm and downpour since early on Tuesday.
According to Agriculture Ministry officials, while the production of wheat and other rabi crops was expected to come down this year as the sowing area has reduced as compared to that of the last year, the hailstorm will further damage the rabi crops.
“However, it is too early to estimate the damage from hailstorm. The State Government’s Agriculture Department will assess the damage and inform the Ministry,” said officials.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted widespread rainfall, hailstorm with gusty wind and snowfall along with heavy rainfall over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Wednesday.
The IMD said rain and thunderstorm will continue on Wednesday in northern and northwest parts of the country due to intense western disturbance bearing down on North West India and cyclonic circulation developed over Afghanistan and Central Pakistan.
Rain lashed the plains while higher reaches of Kashmir witnessed fresh snowfall for the second day. The snowfall and rain blocked the 300-km long Srinagar-Jammu national highway. The flight operations at the airport here were also affected. Four flights were cancelled and 11 delayed due to poor visibility. The Himachal Pradesh capital and picturesque Manali and Dalhousie on Tuesday witnessed more snow that snapped road links, however tourists made merry by hurling snowballs at one another.
Director of the Punjab Agriculture Department Jasbir Singh Bains advised wheat growers to not let rainwater stagnate in the field as it could be harmful to the crop.
Naseeb Singh, a farmer from Jind district, said rain at this time will help in containing the fungal disease yellow rust, but hailstorm will destroy crop. Wheat is the main rabi crop in Punjab and is grown in over 35 lakh hectare area in the State, also known as the food bowl of the country. In Haryana, 25.01 lakh hectare are under wheat cultivation.
As per latest Agriculture Ministry’s data, sowing of winter or rabi crops, an indicator of the pace of farm activities, is down by nearly 5 per cent compared to last year. A significant fall in sowing in Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Rajasthan has affected wheat and other crops, bringing the overall area under rabi crops down by nearly 5 per cent to 588 lakh hectares. The total area cultivated in the corresponding week in 2017-18 was around 618 lakh hectare.
Rabi cultivation data released by the Agriculture Ministry showed the area under rice is about 21.5 per cent lower than the same period last year due to a drop in rice cultivation in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Despite favoured conditions for the rabi crops, wheat cultivation, on the other hand, reported a 2.5-per cent deficit as compared to last year. As against an area of around 304 lakh hectare sown in 2017-18, the area under wheat cultivation is around 296 lakh hectare, mainly because of drop in sowing in drought-hit Maharashtra and Gujarat, as well as West Bengal.
There is nearly a 10 per cent drop in the sowing of gram, a major pulse crop of the season. This deficit has pulled down the overall pulses area by over 5.5 per cent. As compared to the 157.8-lakh hectare covered in the corresponding week in 2017-18, the pulse has been grown only in 95 lakh hectare so far. Coarse cereals, too, are faring badly, with an overall drop in area of nearly 14 per cent.
The area under jowar cultivation at 24.6 lakh hectare is around 19 per cent lower than the 30.27 lakh hectare last year; maize is down by 9.5 per cent to 14 lakh hectare.
