Rain, hailstorm, strong winds damage crops

Rain, hailstorm, strong winds damage crops
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

RS Pura, May 27
Rain, hailstorm and strong winds during the past 48 hours have damaged vegetable, pulses and fruit crops in many parts of the Jammu region.

Reports said farmers of Udhampur, Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts suffered huge losses due to this sudden spell of rain accompanied by strong winds, which destroyed the leaves of the growing crops.

Even agriculture experts of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, in their report submitted to the Agriculture Department have recommended compensation to the farmers for losses suffered. “The loss of of vegetable and pulses crops is irrecoverable, as their leaves have been damaged, which will take 15 to 20 days to grow again. The yield will also see some decrease.

The state government should assess the damage to provide compensation to the farmers so that their losses could be covered,” said Dr JP Sharma, Associate Director (Research), Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu.

He said vegetable crops were in their fruiting stage and hailstorm and rain had destroyed them completely.

Sharma added, “Major vegetable crops like tomato, brinjal, ladyfinger, pumpkin and bottle gourd have been damaged.

Similarly, pulses, including moong and mash, have also been destroyed”. In some mountainous parts of the region, the maize crop has also been damaged due to the squall.

A visit to some areas of the region has revealed that the situation was worst in the fields and the farmers were seen sitting with grim faces. Growing vegetables, pulses and horticulture crops, including mango, melon and watermelon, have also been affected due to this recent rain, hailstorm and winds.

All these crops were also found damaged by insects, which compounded the problem. “Our crop has been damaged completely by rain followed by strong winds. Now, insects have started affecting our crop,” said Gurmeet Singh, a farmer at Abdullian village.

He said the government should immediately assess their losses so that they could be compensated.

Courtesy: The Tribune