Rain brings cheer to farmers

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 5

Heavy showers on Saturday evening came as a blessing for the farming community as paddy fields need regular water supply during the season.

Some farmers said the showers helped them keep their tube wells off. Jagtar Singh, a farmer, said: “We get eight-hour power supply for tube wells but sometimes electricity faults in the transmission reduce the duration of supply. The showers have not only increased the water level but also decreased temperature, as a result of which evaporation has decreased.”

With almost 70 per cent of the paddy transplantation work done, the electricity load these days is at peak. Besides tube wells, the huge number of air conditioners in domestic and commercial buildings increase the load, as a result of which scheduled and unscheduled power cuts in rural and urban areas have become frequent.

The farmers said a good amount of rain every week would decrease the consumption of electricity. “Rains, apart from providing water, wash down eggs and larva of insects from plants,” said another farmer Rawel Singh.

Chief Agriculture Officer Gurdial Singh Bal said: “The area has witnessed substantial rains which are good for the paddy crop.” He added that fast winds had also been reported that broke tree branches, resulting in problems for horticulturists.

Bal said the Metrology Department has forecast more rains in the coming days. He added that farmers had almost completed transplantation of paddy varieties and were presently engaged in sowing basmati varieties. The official added that mechanisation of paddy transplantation had helped farmers complete the work in time, despite labour shortage.