The recent bout of unseasonal rains along with gusty winds in parts of north and central India hasn’t had any big impact on standing wheat crop so far as bulk of it has been either harvested or is in the late maturing stage. But the crop could be at risk if the rains return with bigger intensity in next few days.
However, the showers seem to have impacted vegetable crops particularly tomatoes, cauliflower and also late-sown grapes in some parts of Maharashtra, particularly in the Solapur-Nasik and Satara region.
There have not been reports of much damage to chana crop as well as much of the same has already been harvested in major growing states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra except Rajasthan.
“As of now, we haven’t got any report of big damage to the standing wheat crop because in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh the crop has already matured, while in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan harvesting is still on. But, yes if another bout of rain or thunderstorm comes with hailstorm, then it can impact the crops. But as of today there isn’t much concern,” G P Singh, director of Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) told Business Standard.
He said the report that he has got from the fields indicate that 99 per cent of the standing crop hasn’t been impacted and whatever damage might have happened could be in the mandis where farmers have stored their produce for selling.
In western Uttar Pradesh, where wheat is sown late after harvesting of sugarcane, Singh said that there could be some reports of water lodging in fields, but here too impact should not be much.
“In some mandis of Haryana, wheat bags have been damaged but they have been laying there for quite some time as the moisture content in them was around 15-16 per cent as against the permissible 12 per cent,” Singh said.
He said the government had advised farmers not to bring wheat with high moisture content to the mandis for selling, but still farmers were bringing the semi-matured crop.
“Nonetheless, if we get good sunshine for few hours daily, the moisture content will go down,” Singh added.
Wheat, which is one of the major foodgrains grown during the rabi season, has been planted in around 30.42 million hectares in 2018, which is around 427,000 hectares less than last year.
“In chana too we haven’t so far received any big news of damage to standing crop as rains have been in patches. Also, chana prices dipped yesterday which also shows that there have not been reports of any big damage,” Bimal Kothari, vice president of Indian Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) said.
He added, in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, most of the chana has been harvested and if it would have been in fields then the rains would have caused some damage, but that is not the case.
But, vegetable farmers in Nasik-Solapur and Satara belt of Maharashtra aren’t that lucky.
Preliminary reports show that there has been some impact on the standing tomatoes, cauliflower crops in these areas.
“High moisture content increases the chances of fungi in tomatoes and cauliflower and lowers their market value,” Sriram Gadve, President of Vegetable Growers’ Association of India (VGAI) said.
Gadve said there could be damages in mangoes as small-sized fruits drop due to heavy winds while in plants which are at the flowering stage could also get impacted.
The worrying fact is if the rains return with heavier intensity in the next few days.
“There is a possibility of a strong western disturbance developing in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the next few days which might lead to unseasonal rains and gusty winds till April 12th. There would be early morning and late afternoon bursts of rains in the northern plains for a duration of 1-2 hours,” Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at private weather forecasting agency Skymet said.
“The pre-monsoon activity has now shifted towards the eastern regions of the country, while in northern parts situation could remain volatile till April 12,” Palawat said.