Rabi crops to gain as cold wave slated to continue for two days

The rain spell on Tuesday over the northern plains leading to drop in temperatures and cold weather conditions would benefit standing rabi crop, especially wheat, gram and mustard, said scientists and traders.
The weather office has forecast cold wave conditions to continue over Punjab, Haryana, west UP and north Rajasthan for the next two days. It has also said that under the influence of the rain-bearing weather system called western disturbance, rainfall would cover northern plains. There would be rain and snow over western Himalayan region on Wednesday.

“This rain has happened at the right time. It is especially beneficial for wheat, gram, mustard and other rabi crops. Though wheat area is largely irrigated, 10% to 15% is rain fed and farmers will benefit from this,” said Trilochan Mohapatra, director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the country’s top agriculture research institute.


Mohapatra said that the chana and mustard crop growth were good. “The good news is that there has been no report of pest infestation till date. This year again we can expect a very good production,” he said.

Tuesday rains covered Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. “The rains have not been heavy, but equally well distributed which is was very much required at this stage for crop growth. We are expecting more rains on Wednesday. This will save farmers cost of one irrigation,” said Gyanendra Pratap Singh, director at the Directorate of Wheat Research at Karnal, Haryana, A dip in the temperature owing to rains would aid the growth of the wheat crop which is in the tillering stage and even the late sown varieties were in the seedling stage, said Singh.

Wheat planting fell by 4.02% to 298.67 lakh hectare, as on January 19. As on date, yellow rust has not been reported across the wheat sown area.

"Overall the acreage is down for oilseed, but if the rains in January and February are good then we can make up in yields. Mustard requires 2-3 spells of rain and the current spell will be beneficial," said B.V.Mehta, director, Solvent Extractors Association. The farmers and traders in the past few days were concerned about higher than normal temperatures which would have impacted yield across the major producing centres. Mustard, the key oilseed crop in the season, saw planting at less than 5.01% at 66.60 lakh hectare. Other crops like groundnut, sunflower and linseed saw an increase.

Similarly, the low temperature were beneficial for pulses, particularly the gram which is in the flowering stage in Madhya Pradesh and already been harvested in some parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra. “More rains are required for chana in Rajasthan region, as there has been no rain post sowing. The drop in temperatures however is good for the crop.” said Sunil Baldeva of Siliguri Associates, an importer and trader based in Delhi’s Naya Bazar market.