Farmers’ trouble seems to be unending with fresh spell of rains lashing many parts of Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday, inflicting further damage to the crops. Rain and high velocity winds on Tuesday inflicted further damage to crops that were already hit by unseasonal rains and hailstorm since February.
light to moderate rainfall lashed many parts of both the states, including Chandigarh, Ambala, Hisar, Bhiwani, Kurukshetra, Jind, Sonepat, Karnal, Fatehabad, Panipat, Amritsar, ludhiana, Patiala, Kapurthala, Phillaur, Dasuya, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Fatehgarh Sahib and Mohali.
The current spell of untimely rains is considered harmful for wheat crop as it could affect the yield adversely. After the rains and hailstorm in March, Punjab and Haryana, the major foodgrain growing States, had already sought financial assistance from the Centre to compensate the crop losses of farmers. While Punjab Government has sought relief of Rs717 crore, Haryana has sought relief of Rs1,136 crore from the Centre to compensate farmers for the crop losses.
The coming days are likely to increase the worries of farmers as the local Meteorological Department has forecast rains in next one week. According to the Met Department forecast, light to moderate rain is likely to occur at few places on April 8 and 11 in Punjab and Haryana.
About the reasons behind prolonged wet spell this year, Director of Chandigarh Meteorological Department Surender Paul said that the frequency of western disturbances was more this year. Rains are expected on April 8 and 11 in some parts of the region, he added.
The two agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana had projected the loss caused to standing Rabi crops in 2,94,177 hectares and 18 lakh hectares respectively due to rains and hailstorm in February and March. During the current Rabi season, Punjab has projected wheat output of 168 lakh tonnes while Haryana is expecting wheat production of 113.9 lakh tonnes as against last season's production of 118 lakh tonnes.
Facing a tough time because of adverse weather conditions, farmers from both the states are desperately waiting for financial assistance from respective state authorities.