Moga, May 3
Just when the harvesting of wheat was in its last stage, farmers’ hopes were dashed with untimely rainfall accompanied by gusty winds in the district today.
This is the fourth time in the past three weeks that the rainfall has hit the region, ruining the ripened wheat crop.
Resultantly, thousands of bags of wheat lying at the grain markets were drenched, hindering the procurement process.
“This is the harvesting season and we were anticipating a good profit, but untimely rains in the past few weeks have affected the lustre of the foodgrains. In addition, now the farmers won’t be able to meet the required moisture content in grains,” said Ranjit Singh, a farmer of Ghal Kalan village.
Sukhdev Singh, General Secretary, BKU (Ekta), said, “First, farmers were hit by the problem of labour crunch amid lockdown, now with downpour, they will have trouble selling their spoiled produce.” — TNS
The government must allow some relaxation in the procurement norms to make sure that the farmers were not harassed at the hands of commission agents and procurement agencies, said Singh.
A heavy storm accompanied by slight rainfall has uprooted many trees and electricity poles in the district. The power supply has also been also hit in many areas of the district. Barricades erected by the police in the wake of lockdown were also blown away. No loss of human life has been reported so far, but damage to property can’t be ruled out.
Source: Tribune India
Link:https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/rainstorm-dashes-moga-farmers-hopes-80042