Rain hits rabi crop in north and central states

Unseasonal rainfall accompanied by strong winds is seen to have caused significant damage to the standing rabi crop across North and Central India, adding to the woes of farmers already battling low price realisations and urea shortages.

“These rains aren’t beneficial for 90 per cent of the wheat, mustard or chana (chickpea) now in the fields. They may be useful only to the wheat that was sown late (in December, as against the normal time before November 25),” said, deputy director-general (crop science) at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

The wheat crop in North India is either at the flowering or “early dough” stage when starch accumulation in the kernel has just begun. In Central India, grain filling is already at its peak, with the crop approaching maturity and ready to be harvested in 10 days or so.
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The current wet spell is the result of a low pressure induced by western disturbances over North Pakistan and the adjoining Jammu & Kashmir regions.

“We expect the rainfall to stop from tomorrow in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It will continue in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and the North-East, while being heavy in J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” said, head of the India Meteorological Department’s National Weather Forecasting Centre.

“The crop planted in the first week of November, which is at the grain forming stage, is the one most vulnerable. We are advising farmers to drain the water from their fields. Water-logging can damage the plant’s root system and, in turn, affect yields,” said, head of the Directorate of Wheat Research, Karnal.

Chief of the Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research at Bharatpur (Rajasthan), felt that the damage to mustard from the rains may not be as much as in wheat.“The grain filling in mustard is over and it is ready for harvesting. But there is the danger of shattering (grains dropping from the plant) because of the moisture drying up from sudden sunlight. Also, the wet grain that has been harvested is susceptible to fungus, affecting quality,” he explained.

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Source:Indianexpress