With at least 14 lakh hectares (40 per cent) of 34.90 lakh hectares of wheat sown in Punjab impacted by rain, high-velocity winds and hailstorm, another challenge that farmers face now is difficulty in harvesting the crop.

According to experts and farmers, flattened crop cannot be harvested using a combine harvester machine and due to shortage of labour, getting the work done manually is also not an option.

“A combine harvester machine can’t be used on flattened crop as it is a time-consuming process. We have to hire labourers for the job, which is also not feasible,” said Amandeep Singh, a farmer of Raipur Frola village near Jalandhar. He said he cultivated wheat over a 5-acre land and the entire village had suffered losses this season.

“Generally, a combine machine takes around 20 minutes to cut and thresh a crop sown on one acre land, but it takes at least an hour for damaged crop. This will disturb our budget,” he said. “In previous harvest seasons, we used to pay ₹2,500 to harvest wheat over an acre land. This time, it will be around ₹3,000 to 3,500 per acre and an extra cost of ₹2,500 per acre for manual cutting,” he said.

Due to spells of rain and high-velocity winds from March 23 to April 3, wheat crop on 14 lakh hectares had been flattened. The crop has been damaged and there are rare chances of finding healthy grain,” said Ludhiana Punjab Agricultural University vice-chancellor Dr SS Gosal. He said harvesting would be a costly affair at this time and it wouldn’t be easy with machines.

“Harvest machines can’t enter my farm even after a week due to puddle. We will have to employ four to five labour hands for the task. Machine operators are asking for at least ₹3,000 per acre, which was ₹1,800 per acre in the previous season,” said Sukhwinder Singh, a farmer from Bhattian village in Machhiwara area of Ludhiana. He said farmers had never seen such crisis for a long time in the past.

Agriculture director Gurvinder Singh said it would be difficult to harvest the crop this time and it require more finances. On being asked about any scope for supporting the farmers, he said the government would only compensate for the loss, for which girdawari (assessment) was underway, and a report was expected in a few days. The government had assured the farmers to give compensation from April 14. He said the harvest was expected to begin in full swing from April 12.

70 to 100% crop loss in over 1-lakh hectares

As per fresh estimates of the state agriculture department, crop over one lakh hectares had suffered a loss of around 70 to 100% majorly in Patiala, Sangrur, Barnala, Muktsar, Bathinda and Fazilka districts.

Districts Fazilka and Muktsar are the worst affected. “Loss over 14 lakh hectares is 20 to 50%. Overall, it will be 10 to 15% yield loss. In the past season, wheat crop suffered 13% yield loss due to rainfall in January and February and sudden rise in temperature in March, when crop reached the mature stage.

Source - https://www.hindustantimes.com