Rain plays spoilsport for Gujarat farmers

While rains brought in some momentary respite from the heat, it has dampened the spirits of the state farmers.

Crops like mango, chickoo, isabgul, fennelseed and wheat bore the brunt of the sudden 'unwanted' showers.

The mango arrival is expected to be in May and heavy showers can cause severe damage to the fruit, according to Mukesh Naik, secretary of Ghadat Sahakari Mandli.

As the estimates of losses of farmers are yet being measured, mango cultivators of Sorath Region perceive this stroke of nature as an opportunity to push grounded raw-mangoes into the market as they are used in pickle arriving mainly from South States have yet not entered the markets across the region.

It's a prime time for unripe mangoes to reach market by end of March and midst of April as even the pickle season takes-off, but this unexpected showers have drained our hopes, laments Rakesh Paradva, a farmer from Sorath.

This year there has been a 40 per cent drop in chickoo production this year and the rains will further affect the production.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that the current rainfall may affect the next cheeku crop," Naik maintained. Gandevi and other parts of Navsari, Chikli and certain other parts in South Gujarat are the largest producers in Gujarat.

Traders fear that the rains will create room for 'fruit flies', especially in chickoo and mangoes. The biggest drawback could be for isabgul, the harvesting season of which is yet to begin in February, March, according to traders.

The production of Isabgul was estimated to go down by 50 per cent in the state and we expect about 10 lakh bags (75 kg) this year, according to a leading trader at Unjha. "However the rains can bring a further drop in production," he added.

Banaskantha, Mehsana are the major producers of Isabgul.

According to another trader Pravin Patel, "If the weather remains cloudy for a week, it will take toll of all the standing crops in the state."

About 18-20 lakh bags (55-60 kgs) of cuminseeds are expected to be produced this year from the state and about 15,000 bags are making their way to the Unjha mandi daily.

"It will take a few days to ascertain the damage caused to the crops. Although majority of cuminseeds are harvested, the 15-20 per cent standing crop is likely to be affected by the rains," said Devendra Patel, one of the the leading traders of cuminseeds.

There cannot be much damage to cuminseeds except the colour of the commodity being affected, Pravin Patel maintained.

About 8-9 lakh bags (each containing 55 kgs) of fennelseeds are expected this year and the area under cultivation is 1.5 times more than the previous year.

"With the harvesting season on fennelseed production may get adversely affected if rainfall continues," Devendra Patel said.

For wheat the harvesting begins in March-April in entire Gujarat which received scattered moderate rainfall throughout the day. As 35-40 per cent of wheat crop was already harvested, remaining crop in form of grains lying in open across the fields in Saurashtra-Kutch region is likely to decay and would not be worth consuming, however farmers are busy engaged in separating the completely damaged stuff and partially damaged stuff, said Naran Patel, farmer from Rajkot APMC.

"Raw cotton, mainly lying in open sheds across the ginning mills located at Manavadar, Gondal and Morbi got wet and moist, as a result farmers are not at a loss as far as cotton is concerned, it's the ginning mill owners who are lamenting the losses," explained Raghavji Pethapara, partner of a ginning mill at Gondal.

Met department informed that the state will witness equal rainfall on Friday also.

"We expect the showers to continue for one more day before the skies get cleared," said J M Modhwal, director, Met department.