Heatwave, delayed rains leave farmers worried in Haryana
KARNAL: Paddy transplantation is all set to start in Haryana on June 15, but the extended dry spell, coupled with delayed monsoon and insufficient power supply to the agriculture feeders, has left the farmers high and dry.
From Wednesday, there will be no restrictions on transplantation, but most of the farmers seem unable to start the process amid heatwave as they said that the tube well water is not sufficient to flood their fields for puddling.
The government has announced cash incentive of Rs 4,000 for direct seeded rice (DSR) method, which requires 70% less water and 30% less input cost than the traditional method. But most of the farmers are still in the favour of the traditional method and waiting for the rains to prepare their fields for transplantation.
“We cannot even think to start transplantation without rains. Tube well water is not enough to protect other crops from the impact of heatwaves. If we will start paddy transplantation, the heatwave will kill my sugarcane and maize,” said Parveen Kaushik, a farmer from Karnal’s Nilokheri.
However, the government has increased the power supply to agriculture feeders up to seven hours a day, which the farmers said is still not sufficient to flood the fields for transplantation.
“My nursery is ready, but I cannot start the transplantation from June 15 as we don’t have enough water to flood my eight acres and protect sugarcane crop as well,” said Ajay Kumar, a farmer from Indri of Karnal district. He said the tube well water is not enough to flood one acre of land in a day.
Sandeep Kumar, a farmer from Karnal’s Gharaunda, said, “We have two tube wells but we cannot transplant our 15 acres of paddy without rains. I have transplanted only three acres and find it difficult to keep it alive amid the heatwave.” “We totally depend on the rains to irrigate 10 acres, but this year we are fearing that the delayed monsoon may create a problem and we will not be able to start transplantation by the first week of July,” said Des Raj of Sherpur village.
The agriculture meteorological department at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University in Hisar said the weather will remain dry for the next couple of days and there is prediction of pre-monsoon showers in some parts of from June 16-20. Meanwhile, officials of the state agriculture department have advised the farmers to adopt the DSR technique.