Farmers in Punjab were expecting a bumper wheat production this year, but on Monday they found themselves in deep water when the heavens opened, wreaking havoc on the crop. Farmer Jagdeep Singh of Sangrur is estimating around 40% loss of wheat crop because of heavy rain coupled with hailstorms and strong winds, which have resulted in heavy lodging (flattening of the crop) in his 39 acres of land. He said that this sudden heavy rain will not only decrease the yield but also lead to discolouring of the crop because of submergence under rainwater. Farmer Jaswinder Singh Longowal of the Longowal village in the same district is also estimating around 40% loss in his 24 acres of wheat field. He had expected a bumper crop this year, but this unseasonal rain on Monday played the spoilsport. “I feel like crying after seeing the crop, which was very healthy till a couple of days ago,” he added. On Monday, 20 mm to 30 mm of rain was reported from various parts of Punjab along with hailstorm and winds with a speed of around 40 kmph. Also on March 17 and March 18, rain was witnessed in the state which was quite good for the crop, but during those two days also strong winds resulted in heavy lodging in around 1.5 lakh hectares in the state. Manmohan Singh, Director, Indian Meteorological Department, Chandigarh Centre, said that one more western disturbance is expected on March 23 which will bring more rain on March 24. The hailstorm was so heavy that in some places the crop even got buried under it, said another farmer Dharminder Singh. Because of heavy lodging of the crop for the last couple of days, the crop is yet to return to standing position, and Monday's heavy rain has put the crop under more stress, he added. Patiala, which had witnessed heavy lodging of the crop due to around 30 mm of rain on March 17-18 which was the highest in the state, saw around 28 mm of rain on Monday along with a heavy hailstorm. Chief Agriculture Officer Patiala Harinder Singh said that earlier rain had damaged around 2% of the total crop, but Monday's rain hit around 15% of the crop and the coming rain will increase the damage further. He said that the crop was in the final stage because of which it had become heavy from the top and it is difficult that such a heavy crop would return to standing position again which will badly hit the quantity as well as the quality of the crop. “There would be around 1 quintal loss per acre as per the preliminary estimates.” Punjab Agriculture Department Director Gurvinder Singh said that this time the state was expecting a bumper crop, “but now when our crop was in the final stage, this untimely rain has played havoc with the wheat crop”. He said that they are getting the estimates of damage from the districts. It's not just the rain, but strong winds and hailstorms too are responsible for the damage to the crop, he added. This rain will also delay the harvesting of the crop now, he said. “We were expecting a bumper crop this time, but now the rain has dashed all the hopes. The government should calculate the entire loss of the farmers to date plus the potential loss likely due to more rain prediction in the coming days, and it must compensate the farmers for the loss,” Jagmohan Singh of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda) said, adding that already the minimum support price (MSP) of the wheat is much below the recommendations of the Swaminathan report.
