Monsoon mischief: Paddy on 4,000 acres damaged in Amritsar district

Tribune News Service

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, September 26

Over 4,000 acres of paddy crop has been damaged in different parts of the district due to the recent spell of rain in the region. As per a field report prepared by the Agriculture Department, the paddy crop has been completely flattened in 2,000 acres while partial flattening has been witnessed in the remaining area.

A Central Government team also visited the fields and the grain markets in the district. The team found that the grains lying at the markets have germinated/sprouted as they were soaked in the rainwater for hours.

Our field officials are advising farmers to drain out the excess water standing in the paddy fields and other crops. Further damage to the crop could be reduced if the farmers drain out the standing water. —Dr Jatinder Gill, Chief Agriculture Officer

However, the Agriculture Department officials claimed that damage caused by the rains in the district is much less as compared to many districts of Malwa region where the showers were comparatively intense.

Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Jatinder Singh Gill said, “Our field officials are advising farmers to drain out the excess water in the paddy fields and other crops.” He said the further damage to the standing crop could be reduced if the farmers drain out the water.

Talking about the damage caused by flattening, Dr Gill said, “There is not only a loss in terms of the yield but terms of quality of the grain. It would cause discoloration of grains and lead to problems in marketing of such produce.” Flattening of crop has been reported from the villages in Majitha, Mehta, Chogawan and Lopoke.

Apart from causing damage to the paddy crop, the showers have also delayed the sowing of vegetable crops by at least ten days. The farmers stated that provided there are no more showers in the coming days, the moisture content in the soil would take 8 to 10 days to fall to the optimum level.

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