Kharif crop to reap benefits from monsoon in Punjab, Haryana

Urban life might be disrupted due to heavy downpour in most of Punjab and Haryana since last evening, but the the farming community is ecstatic over the arrival of monsoon.

The rain, though behind schedule has brought big relief to the farmers of Punjab and Haryana. The late showers are likely to help those who had planned to cultivate basmati rice. Paddy transplantation for the normal varieties was to commence from June 10 in Punjab and June 15 in Haryana. The transplantation of the normal variety of paddy is almost over. Farmers had harnessed groundwater to keep the fields irrigated in case of rain deficit.

Since the meteorological department has confirmed rain for the next few days, the entire kharif crop is likely to benefit.

A senior official in the Department of Agriculture, Haryana said the arrival of monsoon has revived expectations to meet the target of covering 1.15 million hectare under paddy. The actual area under paddy was 1.2 millionhectare in 2009-10 in Haryana.

The delayed monsoon has affected the cotton crop in the state and against the target of 600,000 hectare about 450,000 hectare area under cotton has been covered. This would help the farmers engaged in growing Bajra and pulses in the state.

The farmers in Punjab are also happy as they can now save on the cost of irrigation.

Jagtar Singh of village Chamkor Sahib said he spends about Rs 700 per acre per day to keep his fields irrigated for paddy. Since the farmers drained out their resources last year due to drought like situation there was a dire need of adequate rain.

Even Punjab missed the target of 550,000 hectare and covered 532,000 hectare due to delay in monsoon and excessive heat.

The cotton crop that was sown in April would also benefit immensely from the rain, said officials of the department of Agriculture, Punjab. The rainfall helps to dissolve micronutrients present in the atmosphere with the soil that helps in better yield.

The major cotton belt of Punjab, concentrated in Bhatinda is expecting rain in next few days.

The rain is a windfall gain for the state utilities as well as they offer power at subsidised rates for agriculture. The lesser the power drawn for the agriculture connections would save the government from the burden of power subsidy.