Kailash Choudhary: Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary said, ‘Some damage has happened. We have not received the damage assessment report from the state governments. He said that the state governments are using the funds under the State Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).
PM Kisan News: Unseasonal rain is going on in many states of North India. This is causing damage to the wheat crop. On behalf of the Central Government, it was said that unseasonal rains and hailstorms have damaged the wheat crop in the major wheat producing states.
But so far no report has been received from the state governments about the ground reality. There is no worry about mustard and gram crop as most of its crops have been harvested. In case of horticulture crops, local hailstorm may affect some crops like banana and potato.
Harvesting has started in some parts of the country.
For the last two days, unseasonal rains, hailstorm and strong winds are lashing many parts of the country due to western disturbance. Wheat is the main rabi crop, harvesting of which has started in some parts of the country.
Mustard and gram are other major rabi crops. The government has estimated a record 112.2 million tonnes of wheat production for the crop year 2022-23 (July-June). Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary said, ‘Some damage has happened. We have not received the damage assessment report from the state governments.
Government will provide compensation under NDRF
He said that the state governments are using the funds under the State Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). If the state governments submit reports after assessing the extent of damage, the central government will provide compensation under the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).
Agriculture Commissioner PK Singh said that wheat producing states like Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have witnessed unseasonal rains in the last two days. There has been less rain in some parts and this will benefit the crop. However, there may be heavy rain and hailstorm in an area of two lakh hectares.
Most of the gram crop has been harvested
, he said, ‘The assessment of the damage is being done by the state governments, who will present the report in the next 2-3 days.’ Singh said that even if there is some percentage loss in two lakh hectares of wheat area, it will hardly have any adverse effect considering the total wheat area of 343.2 lakh hectares in the current year.
In the case of mustard and gram crops, most of them have been harvested. He said that mustard harvesting is yet to be done in some areas of Rajasthan and Haryana. Singh said some horticulture crops are likely to be affected in areas with localized hailstorm.
The IMD has advised farmers in Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana to postpone harvesting. Farmers in Assam have been asked to postpone harvesting of fruits and vegetables and immediately move the already harvested produce to safer places. Farmers have been asked to postpone sowing of maize in Sikkim and jute in sub-Himalayan West Bengal.
