breaking news Rains batter parts of Punjab, leaving wheat farmers worried
With rains hitting many places in Punjab, wheat farmers were worried about their crop and said downpours at this stage will affect the yield.
Rains hit many parts of Punjab on Saturday, leaving farmers worried as downpours accompanied by high-speed winds flattened the wheat crop in parts of the state.
In the past 24 hours, places like Ludhiana recorded 13.8mm of rainfall, 25.6mm in Patiala, 6.6mm in Pathankot, 5.8mm in Bathinda, 11mm in SBS Nagar, according to a report of the MeT department.
With rains hitting many places in Punjab, wheat farmers were worried about their crop and said downpours at this stage will affect the yield. In Hoshiarpur, strong winds and rains damaged standing wheat crops in parts of the district.
Hoshiarpur Director of Agriculture Gurdev Singh said rain and gusty winds caused less crop damage in the district compared to other districts in the state.
Strong winds flattened the standing wheat crop on about 150 hectares of land in Mukerian, Tanda and Sham Chaurasi areas of this district.
The exact loss of standing crop was being assessed, Gurdev Singh said.
Also in Muktsar, rains and strong winds flattened the wheat crop in some places.
Agricultural experts had previously advised farmers not to irrigate wheat crops to avoid losses from lodging due to heavy rains and winds.
Punjab this season brought in 34.90 lakh hectares of wheat acreage with an expected output of 170 lakh metric tons.
(Edited by : Asmita pants)
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