Crop flattened, farmers fear sheath blight attack on paddy

JALANDHAR: With heavy rain flattening the paddy crop in many areas of the state, threat of sheath blight — a fungal disease — looms large.

The threat of the disease is an addition to the misery of farmers who are already staring at losses due to delay in harvesting of the crop. Agriculture experts say stagnant water in the paddy fields is not good for the crop and sheath blight could attack the crop if the rain persists.

“Apart from the threat of sheath blight attack, constant rain accompanied by strong winds lead to flattening of the near-mature crop,” Resham Singh, agriculture development officer (ADO), Kapurthala, said.

He said farmers usually start harvesting paddy crop at the beginning of the October, but due to rain, the may get delayed by at least 10 to 15 days.

A farmer from Kapurthala, Kuldeep Singh, who has paddy sown on 280 acres, said that 35 per cent of the crop has been flattened. “If the rain doesn’t stop, the farmers will have to suffer huge losses,” he said.

Jaswinder Kumar, agriculture development officer (ADO), Jalandhar, said the rain will also affect the quality of the crop by increasing the moisture content in the paddy and causing discolouration.

“We have already received reports of lodging of standing crop and also sheath blight in some villages. So far, the damage is not much but if the rain won’t stop, losses can be huge,” he said.

Japneet Singh, a farmer from Hoshiarpur, said the current spell of rain was not a good news as dry weather is good ahead of harvesting.