New Delhi: The Centre on Monday said there has been some damage to the standing wheat crop in key growing states due to untimely rains and hailstorm, but it is yet to receive a ground report from the state governments. There is no concern about mustard and chickpea (chana) crops as most of it has been harvested. In the case of horticultural crops, localised hailstorms might have affected some crops like banana and potato, it said.
For the last two days, many parts of the country have been receiving unseasonal rains, hail and heavy winds due to western disturbances. Wheat is the main rabi crop, harvesting of which has started in some parts of the country. Mustard and chickpeas are other major rabi crops. The government has projected a record wheat output of 112.2 million tonnes for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June).
“There has been some damage. We have not received an assessment report on the extent of damage from the state governments,” Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary said. He said the state governments are utilising the funds under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF). The central government will provide compensation under the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) if the state governments submit a report after assessing the extent of damage.
Speaking separately, Agriculture Commissioner P K Singh said untimely rains were observed over wheat growing states of Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UP and Rajasthan in the last two days. Some parts have received fewer rains and that would benefit the crop. However, two lakh-hectare of the area might have received heavy rainfall and hailstorm. “The assessment of the damage is being made by the state governments which will submit a report in the next 2-3 days,” he said.
Even if some percentage damage happens in 2 lakh hectares of wheat area, Singh said it would hardly have any impact considering the total wheat acreage of 343.2 lakh hectares in the current year.
In the case of mustard and chickpeas crops, most of these have been harvested. Mustard harvesting in some areas of Rajasthan and Haryana is still due, he added.
Singh said some of the horticultural crops are likely to have been impacted in areas with localised hailstorms. For example, banana and potato crops. Potato farmers have been asked to halt harvesting.
Isolated thunderstorm, lightening, squall and hailstorm are expected over west Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and East Rajasthan on March 20; and over Uttarakhand on March 21, it said in its daily forecast. Meanwhile, IMD has advised farmers of Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra, Punjab and Haryana to postpone harvesting.
Assam farmers have been asked to postpone harvesting of fruits and vegetables and move the already harvested produce to safer places immediately. Farmers have been told to postpone maize sowing in Sikkim and jute sowing in Sub-Himalayan West Bengal.