Rain sweeps across India; may hit crops in 20 lakh hectares

NEW DELHI: Rain storms swept across the country in a fresh spell of wet weather that began on Sunday morning and may continue intermittently till at least April 6, inflicting more pain on farmers already reeling under crop losses due to unseasonal showers since the beginning of March.

The Met department reported widespread rain in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi in the 24 hours since Sunday morning.

There were showers too at a few places over east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Sikkim and northeastern states, Odisha, Goa, coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Saurashtra, Kutch and Telangana. Besides, hailstorms were reported at a few places over Haryana on Monday afternoon.

While the Centre would calculate the fresh damage to crops only after reports come in from the states, agriculture ministry sources informally estimated that between 10 and 20 lakh hectares could be affected. This is on top of 105 lakh hectares that have been impacted since March 1.

In Gonda district of western Uttar Pradesh, two farmers died after visiting their wheat fields following the rains. They were identified as Yashpal Singh, 55, and Ram Gopal Das, 56. SDM Dharmendra Singh denied that the deaths were linked to spoiled crops. "The farmers were suffering from health issues and succumbed to heart attack," he said.

The Bharatiya Kisan Union said farmers were getting just Rs 50 for a 50-kilo packet of potatoes — one-fifth of the earlier rate — because of fears that the produce may have rotted due to the rains.

Haryana, meanwhile, has reduced its wheat procurement target to 65 lakh tonnes from an earlier 75 lakh tonnes in view of the untimely rain and hailstorms in March, a spokesman for the food and supplies department said. State additional chief secretary Dhanpat Singh said he had received reports of damage to crops in the past 24 hours, particularly from Sirsa district.


Farmers said the current spell of untimely rains and winds were harmful for wheat which was about to be harvested in few days. It may also delay harvesting by a few days. Grain formation in wheat had already taken place and rains could cause discolouration, which would affect quality.

Jitendra Kumar, a farmer from Nawabganj block in UP, told TOI that waterlogging due to rains was a major concern because a majority of crops had almost matured. "Farmers who sowed potatoes and oil seeds will be the worst-hit by recent rainfall as it will increase chances of damaging the crops further," he said.

While wheat, oilseeds, cotton and vegetables are likely to be hit by the rains, farmers cultivating pulses such as moong, urad and lobia, along with fruit crops like guava and mango are likely to benefit, said H S Kushwaha, senior meteorologist at G B Pant University, Pant Nagar.