Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Tuesday that preliminary reports suggest there is not much impact on the situation. rabies crops like wheat due to the inopportune rains and current hailstorms.
The minister, however, said that the Center has not yet received field reports from state governments.
Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of an event, Tomar said: “There is not much impact on rabies crops based on preliminary assessment.” State governments are still assessing the damage to standing rabi crops, he said.
State governments can use the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) to provide immediate relief to farmers after conducting the crop survey. The central government can provide more funds than the National Disaster Relief Fund after submitting a memorandum, it added.
Wheat is the main rabi crop, harvesting is underway in some states. Mustard and chickpea are other great rabies crops.
Many parts of the country received unseasonal rain, hail and gusty winds caused by western disturbances in the past three days.
In the last 24 hours, strong rain in isolated locations it was reported from West Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Meghalaya, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Hailstorms were reported in isolated locations in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir in the past 24 hours.
According to the latest forecast, isolated thunderstorms, lightning, gusty winds and hail are expected over Uttarakhand and West Rajasthan on March 23 and over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana on March 24.
On Monday, the central government said there is no concern for the mustard and chickpea (chana) crops as most of them have already been harvested. In the case of horticultural crops, the localized hailstorms could have affected some crops such as bananas and potatoes.
The government projected a record wheat production of 112.2 million tons for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June).
Meanwhile, IMD has advised farmers in Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana to postpone the harvest.
Farmers in Assam have been asked to postpone harvesting of fruits and vegetables and move already harvested produce to safer locations immediately. Farmers have been told to postpone planting maize in Sikkim and jute planting in the sub-Himalayas of West Bengal.
Farmers must drain excess water from crop fields, provide mechanical support to horticultural crops and stake vegetables, use hail nets to protect apple, pear, plum and peach orchards in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and orchards in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Eastern Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
(Only the headline and image in this report may have been modified by Business Standard staff; all other content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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