According to reports over 1.5 lakh hectares of paddy crop in Punjab have been damaged due to heavy rainfall in the past few days. Emergency surveys conducted by the state agriculture department said that certain locations have seen complete crop damage.
Farmers are concerned about the decrease in yield due to continuous rain. Dalip Singh, a farmer from the village of Nandpur Kesho near Patiala said we are in a terrible situation because the crop was about to be harvested and rainfall has led to the lodging of the crop. I am not sure whether the crop will recover. This time, we will have to suffer huge losses.
Another farmer, Nek Singh, from the village of Khokh near Nabha who had grown 12 acres of paddy, expressed concern about the rainfall and said that the exact damage would not be known until the fields dried out. He saw that the grain had discoloration and higher moisture content in the grain.
The state gave orders for surveys while the rain, which began on Wednesday, continued on Sunday as well. A day-long, intense downpour on Saturday added to the damaged crop. On Sunday, the rain persisted, worrying the farmers and the state government as they counted their losses.
The rain should stop now, and we require periods of sunshine. A senior officer of the state agriculture department, who was at the department headquarters taking feedback from the field staff, anticipated that if there was more rain, the overall yield would decrease.
He further said that the worst-affected areas were in the districts of Patiala, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Sangrur, Mansa, and Muktsar, where early varieties had been sowed and the crop was almost ready for harvest when the rains started.
He continued by saying that it would take a few days to determine the exact loss, but late-sown areas were safe because we could anticipate a rebound with an uninterrupted period of sunshine.
Paddy was sown in more than 30.84 lakh hectares in this season, and due to 5-day continuous rainfall crops got damaged.
The official added that he has asked all deputy commissioners to keep an eye on the situation that occurred after the rainfall.
According to chief secretary VK Janjua, DCs have been instructed to conduct girdawari and report back if there are losses.
Crop harvest had already started before the rain started on Wednesday, especially in the areas where the early crop was sown. Early arrivals were reported in districts Amritsar and Tarn Taran.
