As early varieties of paddy such as PR 111 and others are almost about to be harvested in a few days, heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday has delayed it making farmers a worried lot. Though the rainfall in the past two days has only delayed the harvesting of the crops for about a week, yet more rain, coupled with windstorms, in days to come, may lead to the loss in the yield of these varieties. Besides, the rain would also lead to delay in the sowing of vegetables for commercial purpose in the fields cleared from the early crop of Basmati 1509. "I had sown an early variety of paddy, which was almost mature now. First, as I was advised by the commission agents not to bring the produce before October 1 when the official procurement begins, I tried to delay the harvesting by irrigating the crop. Then there rain on Saturday and Sunday. Now the fields are wet and I will not be able to harvest the crop for about 10 days. But, if more rainfall occurs, accompanied by fast winds in days to come, it may lead to the flattening of the crop," said Meeta Singh, a farmer from Aulakh village. Some of the farmers had sown Basmati 1509 much earlier so that the fields could be cleared for the sowing of some early vegetables of the winter season for commercial purpose, but the rain has spoiled this plan as well. "Rain  is not welcome at this stage when some paddy crop is mature and some of it is growing ears where it may lead to discoloration of grains. The rain may lead to harvesting problems for the early variety and may affect the flowering of the crop which is developing ears," said Jagga Singh, a farmer from Niamiwala village. If the crop falls flat with winds and rain, the farmers have to pay much high rates for combine harvesters, besides suffering other losses. The paddy season is allegedly already delayed this season as most of the area has been under long duration varieties. "The rain has only led to the delay of harvesting of early varieties of paddy, which were near the maturity stage. In the whole, there is no loss of the rain so far. But, if there is more rainfall as weather prediction goes, it may cause some damage to the crop leading to its falling flat," said Dr Pardeep Goyal, an agriculture expert at the farm advisory service  schemes (FASS),  Faridkot," said Goyal. Source - http://www.hindustantimes.com/