With heavy to very heavy rains pouring in most parts of the country, farmers are praying to the rain god to stop the ‘untimely and unwanted’ rains to save their Rabi crop.
The situation is bad in Gujarat where rains this week were 400 % more than normal, Odisha where it is 535 % more than the average, West Bengal 515 % more than normal, Kerala 475 % more than normal and central Maharashtra 255 % more.
If farmers are to be believed, the untimely rains will have a bad impact on their paddy crop, which is at its last stage. “The paddy crop has already flowered. It would fall due to water weight during the rains. Though presently it has not yet affected much in most parts, but we see heavy rains in the coming weeks again, the paddy crop will be ruined. So would happen to pulse crops as well which cannot sustain rains,” said Mohit Bhatti, a farmer from the Dankaur area of Uttar Pradesh.
The Agriculture Department, however, does not see it as a major crisis. “According to my assessment, these rains would not affect much,” said Assistant Director General ICAR (Commercial Crop) R K Singh. He, however, avoided commenting on what will happen if India sees similar rains in the coming weeks. “No point commenting on hypothetical questions. We will see when it will come,” he said.
Actually, the assessment of crop loss would be done by the respective state governments, Centre does not have any such system of crop assessment, he said. Though most of the senior ICAR officers refused to comment on the actual crop loss, they admitted the situation could be worse for the standing crop, if heavy rains continue.
It will have a bad impact on guar (cluster bean), paddy, and pulses said a senior officer of the Agriculture Ministry. But at the same time, these rains could be good for the crops where sowing was late.
“Actually, rains were less in the months of August and June, because of what we saw late sowing in some rain-fed areas. The present rains could be a blessing for such crops,” he said.
Though it is too early to say how much impact it would have on the crop yields, there is already some pressure on the crop prices in Mandis, said sources in the marketing Mandis.
Having said this, the excess rains would have a positive effect on Kharif crops, particularly in the rain-fed areas, the officer said. The flooding in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Central Maharashtra would retain moisture for Kharif and “we could expect good wheat, pulses and oilseeds crop in Kharif”, the officer said.