Hail, rain rather beneficial for crop, damage negligible: Wheat Institute
The rain and hailstorm that struck Haryana over the weekend has impacted crops on several lakhs of acres, prompting the government to open the ‘Kshatipurti’ portal for farmers across all districts to submit their reports detailing the extent of damage to their crops by March 15, while those with insurance cover will register their damaged crop complaint on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’s site
Days after rain and hailstorm hit Rabi crops particularly wheat in the region, the Karnal-based Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) said the change in weather due to Western Disturbance was rather beneficial for the crop and the overall damage could be negligible.
The rain and hailstorm that struck Haryana over the weekend has impacted crops on several lakhs of acres, prompting the government to open the ‘Kshatipurti’ portal for farmers across all districts to submit their reports detailing the extent of damage to their crops by March 15, while those with insurance cover will register their damaged crop complaint on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’s site.
Farmers in Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Hisar, Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani have suffered massive damage to their standing crops with minimal harm to their counterparts in the northern belt of the state along the GT Road.
Meanwhile, the experts at the central institute under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) are of the opinion that the change in weather has lowered the temperature, which is beneficial for the crop.
Dr Gyanendra Singh, director at ICAR-IIWBR said that apart from drop in temperature, the rain has also saved one-time irrigation for the wheat crop and hail in smaller sizes is also beneficial for the crop as it contains nitrogen content.
“The rain has also helped to avert crop damage due to Aphid pests and clear weather will aid the crop’s growth. Our centre has also found that in the DBW-372 and DBW-327 varieties of wheat crop, there has been a minimal instance of crop flattening as these are lodging tolerant and climate resilient. In some areas, the crop has also started recovering,” the director told the HT.
The centre has also advised to ensure that there is no water-logging in their fields and to observe the change in weather should delay the irrigation if there is rain or thunderstorm.
“But, if there is a rise in temperature by the third or fourth week of this month, light irrigation should be done in view of the climatic condition,” the director added.
However, Dr Singh believes that it would be too early to judge if there will be any overall impact on the crop yield.
However, Dr Singh believes that it would be too early to judge if there will be any overall impact on the crop yield.
In the aftermath of the weather conditions, the agriculture and farmers welfare department carried out surveys in the fields that are left inundated with flattened crops and have submitted reports to the higher authorities.
After a meeting to discuss various farming issues with core committee in Kurukshetra on Tuesday, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni said that the government should compensate the farmers for their losses after the surveys and his members will submit memorandums in the districts in support of the demand.
Agriculture minister JP Dalal said, “The exercise is underway to know the exact extent of damage to crops in Haryana. We have opened the Kshatipurti’ portal so that farmers, as they have done earlier also, can register their claims. Indeed, there has been damage to the crop due to hailstorms and rain. We have sought report from the district administration too.”
In Karnal, the initial report indicates that crops including wheat, oilseeds, vegetables and others on nearly 12,000 acres have recorded a loss from 26% to 50%, while crops on nearly 15,000 acres witnessed losses up to 25%.
In a similar survey carried out in Ambala, estimated losses in 10,780 acres — 8,500 acres in wheat; 2,120 acres in oilseeds and 160 acres in maize were found with most of it (9,930 acres) below 25%.
Meanwhile, in Kaithal, out of the total 1,96,050 acres affected, nearly 80,800 acres reported damage ranging from 51 to 75% and 750 acres experienced the most severe impact, with damage ranging from 76 to 100%.
