BLIGHTED HARVEST

The month of March has not been kind to the farming community in the north of the country.

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

The second fortnight of March saw gusty winds, medium to heavy rains and there were even reports of hailstorms from a few places. The wet weather was soon replaced by unseasonal hot weather, with the temperature 5-10 degrees hotter than usual by the beginning of April. This has not augured well for the rabi wheat crop in Punjab and Haryana, and in large tracts in western Uttar Pradesh.

The Narendra Tomar-led Union ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare had on March 1 estimated wheat production to be 112.1 million tonnes this year, but private procurers say it may be as low as 102.9 MT. The Piyush Goyal-led food ministry, on April 1, estimated that about 8-10 per cent of the wheat crop may have been damaged. In three states—Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP—the untimely wet weather has hit the wheat crop across over 523,000 hectares, raising concerns about significant output losses and increased harvesting costs for farmers. In Punjab and Haryana, the damage is still being assessed. The two states received over 200 per cent extra rain for this time of the year (March 1-31), according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data. This will have repercussions—together, the states had accounted for over 70 per cent of the total wheat procured for the PDS (public distribution system) last year.