Farmers worried as wet weather casts clouds over wheat crops

Wet weather conditions in northern India pose severe threat to standing Rabi crop.

By Dherender Kumar

Rohtak (Haryana), Apr 5 : Wet weather conditions in northern India pose severe threat to standing Rabi crop.

The threat is being mainly faced by wheat, which has entered the harvesting stage.

According to the met officials, most of the states that is Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim will experience rainfall accompanied by thunder squalls for next two days.

While the farmers were happy with the extended winter season, the unexpected rain and hailstorm seem to be worrying them.

The farmers say that generally it is during the month of March that the northern states experience hailstorms but the delayed rainy weather conditions seem to be casting their shadow on the wheat crops.

"An acre of land that would have yielded around 20 quintals of wheat will now produce just 10-11 quintals. The government should help us out. It is harvest time and we are incurring losses," said Pratap, a farmer.

Farmers feel that while slight sprinkling rains benefit the crops, hailstorms and heavy rainfall make the soil loose.

"The rainy weather has destroyed our crops. We don't know what to do. The size of the wheat will be smaller and you tell us, who will buy such substandard quality of crop," said Hari, another farmer.

Northern India has been experiencing rainfall accompanied with thunderstorms. Experts point out that there is a change in the rainfall distribution pattern this year.

New Delhi alone received a record 18.6 mm of rain on Friday and the temperature plunged down to around 9.5 degrees but settled at a 21 degrees Celsius.

ANI