The agrarian State of Haryana is likely to witness decline in wheat production this season following the untimely rains and hailstorm in the month of March. The State Government is expecting wheat production of 113.99 lakh tonnes against last season’s production of 118 lakh tonnes.
With crop damage upto 25 per cent reported in nearly 18 lakh hectares across the state and over 50 percent crop damage on more than 50,000 hectares, the State Government is anticipating nearly four-five percent dip in the wheat production this season.
“As per the initial reports, as upto 25 percent crop damage is reported on major agricultural land and upto 100 percent is reported at only few places, the State Government is expecting wheat production of 113.99 lakh tonnes this season,” said Jagraj Dandi, Joint Director (Statistics), Punjab Agriculture Department while talking to The Pioneer.
He said that this season, food grain productivity of 4400 kg/hectares is expected as against last year’s 4722 kg/hectares average yield. The Department had set the wheat production target of 115 lakh tonnes for this season, albeit, the wheat production would be less than the previous year, added the official.
The rainfall between end-February and mid-March has damaged the wheat crop on more than 20 lakh hectares in Haryana this year. Given the situation, the State Government has already scaled down its wheat procurement target for central pool by 13 percent to 65 lakh tonnes for the upcoming Rabi marketing season. The procurement target has been reduced from 75 lakh metric tonnes to 65 lMT during the season.
A day before, Haryana Government had also sought assistance of Rs1,136 crore from the Centre to compensate the loss to the crops due to untimely rains and hailstorm in Haryana. Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan along with Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan had on Tuesday met Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal in Chandigarh to take stock of crops damaged in the State.
The Union Ministers had made it clear that the compensation and financial assistance would be provided only after receiving the final assessment report compiled by Haryana Government regarding the crop damage. After Monday night rain and hailstorm, it had been decided by the State Government that the final assessment report which was to come by March 31 will now be compiled by April 7.
As per the initial reports, 0 to 25 per cent damage to wheat crop has been reported in 18,47,071 lakh hectares, 25 percent to 50 per cent across 48,693 hectares land, 51 to 76 per cent damage is reported in 49,570 hectares and more than 76 percent is reported in 2,515 hectares land in the State.
Karnal, Kaithal, Hisar, Yamunagar, Rohtak districts are worst affected due to the unseasonal rains and hailstorm. Notably, five state-owned procurement agencies would procure wheat crop for central pool from growers on behalf of Food Corporation of India during ensuing Rabi Marketing season 2015-16 (wheat production during 2014-15) in Haryana.