Heat wave fear prompts farmers in Punjab to begin wheat sowing early this year

The ideal time for wheat sowing is between November 1 and 15. In the past, this has even gone beyond November 20-25. This year, several farmers sowed wheat in the last week of October.

Details procured from various districts by the Punjab Agriculture Department revealed that around 45 per cent of wheat sowing and 72 per cent of rabi oilseed sowing have already been completed to date. Patiala has completed 75 per cent of wheat sowing as of November 9, followed by Fatehgarh Sahib (70%) and Kapurthala (69%).

Several other districts also completed over 60% of sowing including Rupnagar (68%), Amritsar (67%), Nawanshahr (65%), Sangrur (63%) and Mohali (60%). Besides, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana and Mansa also completed 55%, 48% and 42% sowing, respectively. The figure was 35 per cent each in Ferozepur, Bathinda and Pathankot.

Jalandhar completed sowing across 32 per cent of its area, while it was 30 per cent in Barnala, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran and Moga districts. Muktsar Sahib and Faridkot completed 20 per cent sowing each, while Fazilka is at the bottom at 15 per cent.

“I want that my crop should ripe by early April so that even if a heat wave comes by mid-March, like last year, its graining would take place ahead of that,” said Talwinder Singh, a farmer in Jalandhar’s Nauli Village who started sowing wheat on October 25 this year. He added that last year his sowing took place by the second week of November only as a result of which he faced a huge loss in yield.

In the last season, the sudden spike in temperature from mid-March, when grain filling was taking place, led to premature ripening and shrivelling of grains. And the yield went down by 4-5 quintals per acre which was a huge loss to farmers.

Director of Punjab Agriculture Department Dr Gurvinder Singh said farmers are now in a hurry to complete wheat sowing as soon as possible because this time the temperature is quite lower and farmers find suitable soil conditions like moisture in the soil after paddy harvesting. So they prefer to sow it immediately after harvesting instead of waiting. “We hope wheat sowing will be completed in time this year and only some portions, where the late varieties are sown, will see sowing beyond November 15,” he added.

Meanwhile, oilseed cultivation has been completed in a total of 72 per cent of the total area, with Bathinda completing 100 per cent and nearly eight other districts having completed it in 90-95 per cent of the area. Jalandhar is at the bottom as only 25 percent of its total oilseed area has been covered so far.