Unseasonal rain a blessing for farmers

The winter rainfall across the plains in the north India and other parts has brought cheers for the farmers.

Unlike the notion that unseasonal rain causes damage to the crops, this time it is being welcomed by the farming community, who are saying that it is like "gold falling from the sky" as it will boost the Rabi crop production.

Agricultural scientists say that for all the Rabi crops, it is like raining gold, not water, and farmers have also saved the expenditure on the irrigation of crops.

Gyanendra Pratap Singh, director of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal in Haryana told : "For the Rabi crops, this is not just the water from the sky, but gold is raining. This will speed up crop growth and increase productivity."

He said that this rain is very beneficial especially for wheat, because the water that falls from the sky in the form of drizzle is like a spray over the crops.

Wheat is the most prominent crop of the Rabi season and its sowing has been above average this year.

According to the data released last week by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rabi crops have been sown in 312.81 lakh hectares across the country, an increase of 9.35 per cent from the previous year.

The general acreage of wheat sowing area is 305.58 lakh hectares in the country.

Singh said if the weather remains favourable in the coming days, then the production of wheat could be a record 10.8 million tonnes this year. Last year, the country produced 10.21 million tonnes of wheat.

Gram, lentils and other pulses have also benefitted from this rain. Director of the Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, N.P. Singh told that this rain is like nectar for pulses crop and will increase the yield. He said that winter rains are called 'Mahavat', which is very beneficial for crops.

However, he also said that the farmers have already irrigated the crop by now, and a bit excess may cause some loss.

N.P. Singh said that the frost in some places in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh damaged the pulses crops, but overall, this year the crop was good, and after this rain, the yield will increase.

All the pulses crops, including gram, have an acreage of 146.24 lakh hectare, which is 4.02 lakh hectare more than the last year in the same period.

Another oilseed expert said that the mustard crop will benefit greatly in areas where there has been rain, because this crop will be strengthened by this rain. The acreage of oilseeds in the country is 75.72 lakh hectare this year.

( With inputs from IANS )