Officials of the Haryana agriculture department have estimated a loss of nearly 20 per cent in the production of wheat owing to untimely rains and hailstorm. Officials had earlier estimated 110.75 LMT (lakh metric tonnes) production of wheat in the state this year, which is likely to be less by 20 per cent because of untimely rains. As many as 59.10 lakh acres is under wheat cultivation in the state this year, which is ready for harvesting.

The area under mustard was 18.15 lakh acre this year and production of 14 LMT was estimated for this year.

A few days ago, losses to wheat crop were estimated a little above than 10 per cent. But incessant rainfall of 2-3 days doubled the losses as the wheat crop was ready for harvesting.

Suresh Koth, a farmer leader from Hisar, said, “The latest rains and hailstorm have flattened the crops and this will not only affect production of wheat but its quality too. It will cause problems in its harvesting too.”

Koth added that this year, they were expecting an average production of wheat at the rate of 20 quintal per acre but it will now be just 3-4 quintal per acre in many fields.

“The main challenge for farmers would be accurate assessment of losses in their crops because sometimes the losses are underestimated by the officials. This is not the first time that rains damaged the crops, actually the farmers have faced losses in five consecutive crops. It includes two crops of wheat and three crops of cotton and paddy. Earlier, the white fly disease had hit cotton crop,” he said, adding that only mustard crop gave them good returns last year but this year, too, there will be losses in mustard.

BKU leader Rakesh Bains said that wheat fields in Jhajjar, Hisar, Jind, Fatehabad have faced more losses than those situated in the GT road belt. He added that the untimely rains will not only cause losses in the production of wheat but it’s shining too.

Seeking a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal for wheat crop, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had last week insisted on proper assessment of the losses. He had said, “Farmers have been complaining from all over the state but the government is showing very less damage in the girdawari in comparison to the actual damage. In many places, 60 to 80 per cent damage has been caused to the crops, whereas in girdawari only 20-25 per cent losses is being reported.”

While CM Manohar Lal Khattar had issued directions to carry out special girdawari of crops affected by untimely rains and hailstorms to assess the losses, DCs have been directed to complete the girdawari work by April 15 so that compensation can be transferred to the accounts of farmers by May.

Source - https://indianexpress.com