The air is cool and dry in the hills of Himachal Pradesh. And the farmers,particularly across the states fruit belt,are desperately waiting for a snowfall. The dry spell has also delayed the sowing of wheat in lower areas. In fact,farmers in some of the wheat growing districts,mostly in rain-fed areas,are a worried lot. The irrigated areas are no better as the crop there has suffered from frost. Scientists at Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University,Palampur,say that farmers may have sown late varieties,but loss of moisture in the soil has already had an adverse impact on the crop. There have been no rain during the past two to three months. The affect of this dry spell,particularly on wheat,is going to be severe. If the soil doesnt have moisture content in another 15 to 20 days,the crop may not survive even if sown in time, says Dr Rajender Singh of the Department of Agro-Meteorology at the agriculture university. The rainfall data available with the varsity suggests that there was only 28.1 mm rain in December and 30.1 mm rain during September. There was no rain in October and November in any part of Himachal Pradesh. Almost 80 per cent of our crops are dependent on rainfall and a dry spell can lead to a huge loss, says J C Rana,Director,Agriculture. Farmers have already started comparing the present situation with the severe dry spell of 2007-09 that had completely destroyed rabi crops in Chamba,Kangra,Bilaspur and Mandi districts. The past two crop seasons have,however,seen a fairly good production with wheat exceeding eight MT. States Economic Advisor Pradeep Chauhan rues that even if only five to 10 per cent of wheat gets affected due to this continued drought,Himachal would suffer a loss of up to Rs 5 to 7 crore in its GDP. In Mandi district,says Devesh Kumar,Deputy Commissioner,it has rained only once this season and thats insufficient for the crop. The agriculture department provided late varieties of seed to the farmers,but that did not help. With the temperature dropping to below zero degree,theres both fog and frost damaging the pitch for rabi crops,including wheat. Right now the loss is 20 per cent, he says. In the apple growing belt of the state,the impact of rainfall cant be predicted at this stage since some of these areas have requisite moisture needed by the plants during dormant period after the fruit season. However,delay in snowfall could hit the plants as well as the next fruit crop if the plants do not get sufficient chilling hours,says Principal Secretary (Horticulture) V C Pharka.
