Untimely rains and hailstorms triggered by westerlies moving in from the Mediterranean region have caused widespread damage in North, West and Central States of the country, with the standing crop of wheat being hit very badly.

The damage to the late-sown wheat crop is almost complete in many parts of the Sri Ganganagar belt in Rajasthan, while there is partial damage to the rabi crop in the Kota division, where 50 per cent of the wheat is still standing, farmers said.

Rajasthan

“The rain and thunderstorms in the last two days have destroyed large swathes of wheat fields in our area. In many areas, the fallen crop would yield almost nothing. Farmers in this region have been hit hardest as this comes two months after hailstorms destroyed their mustard crop in February,” said Shyopat Ram, All India Kisan Sabha leader from the Sri Ganganagar region.

This Rajasthan belt produces nearly 20 lakh tonnes of wheat during the rabi season. According to Ram, only 50 per cent of the crop has been harvested so far. Not just wheat, other crops are also destroyed by the rains. Ranjeet Singh Raju, a farmer from the Vijaynagar block of Sri Ganganagar district, said most of his harvested gram left in the field was blown away by the strong winds. As far as the standing wheat crop was concerned, the loss could be anywhere between 40 to 50 per cent, Raju said.

According to Met Department officials here, the rains, which started two days ago, may pose some danger in the coming days in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and northern parts of Madhya Pradesh. They said they have also alerted officials in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which received heavy spells.

“These weather activities are taking place in the region because of the western disturbance. The westerlies are moving in from Afghanistan and Pakistan towards the Northeastern parts of India, which is why these States are receiving rains and thunderstorms,” said Mrityunjaya Mahapatra, Additional Director General of the India Meteorological Department.

It may be too early to quantify overall losses to the total wheat crop. The Union Agriculture Ministry had, in its second advance estimates released at the end of February, pegged the wheat crop size for the 2018-19 season at 99.12 million tonnes.

In the Kota region of Rajasthan, which is a prominent wheat belt in the State, the damage, however, is limited to 20 to 50 per cent, depending on the location. Kota division, which includes the districts of Kota, Jalawar, Bundi and Baran, accounts for 25 lakh tonnes of wheat production. “Nearly 50 per cent of the wheat crop here is harvested it was sown early, while the rest is still standing. There is damage to this crop, but not as bad as that in Sri Ganganagar, said Dhuli Chand, a farmer leader, from Kota.

MP, HP, Punjab and Haryana

The neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, which has the highest area under wheat in the country, however, has been a bit lucky with nearly 50 per cent of the crop harvested, threshed and stored away as grain. But, the rest of the crop is in various stages of cultivation, said Ashok Tiwari, a farmer leader from Morena district. He estimated that the loss to the wheat crop in the State could be around 10-20 per cent. This could rise, if the rains do not stop in a day or two.

In Punjab, State agricultural commissioner Balwinder Sidhu said the loss is not much so far. Kaka Singh, a farmer from a village on the outskirts of Bhatinda, said the untimely rains may result in discolouration of grains, increase in moisture content and damage to straw, making it unpalatable for cattle.

Farmers in Haryana, too, have experienced damage to their crops and hoped that the loss would be limited to 10 to 20 per cent. In areas such as Fatehpur, only 5 per cent of the crop has been harvested so far. “I fear that many farmers here would get less for their grains as the quality would have been affected, apart from the actual reduction in the yield,” said Chandrabhan, a farmer from a village outside Fatehpur town.

According to Onkar Chand Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Himachal Pradesh Government, the wheat crop in the State has not been affected at all, unlike Punjab and Haryana, as the harvest is a good 20 to 30 days away. “In fact, the rains have been good for our wheat crop,” he said. As for horticultural crops, not much damage has been reported yet, said another State government official.

Gujarat

In Gujarat, farmers in Saurashtra, North and Central Gujarat were caught unawares by the unseasonal rains and faced damages to their harvested crops. Hailstorm with strong winds damaged stocks of freshly-harvested garlic, wheat, pulses and castor in Central Gujarat and Saurashtra. Produce lying in marketyards has also sustained damage. Also, the heavy winds hit horticulture crops such as mango and pomegranate.

“Many of the farmers had either completed the harvest or were in the process of harvesting. The untimely rains and hailstorms will impact the quality of the crops," said Ramesh Bhoraniya, a farmer from Rajkot district.

With inputs from Rutam Vora in Ahmedabad

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