highlights
Heavy rain fall in the month of January this year
Rain water reached the lowest level of 5 years
Wheat crops likely to be affected in many areas
New DelhiDisturbing figures have come to the fore regarding the rains in the country. In the last 5 years, the rainfall in January has reached its lowest level. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), January rainfall in India has reached a five-year low of 12.4 mm, currently 25% rainfall deficit in the month, and likely to make up the shortfall by January 31. Not there. The IMD data shows rainfall deficit in parts of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Since 2019, India had received good winter rains continuously in the month of January. It was recorded 18.5 mm in 2019, followed by 28.3 mm in 2020, 20.2 mm in 2021 and 39.5 mm in 2022. But this time there has been a decrease in it.
According to news agency TOI, IMD Director General Mrityunjay Mohapatra told that due to the activity of Western Disturbance, January rainfall has been above normal in West and North-West India. However, due to weak Western Disturbance activity, the overall winter rainfall over India has been below normal so far even during December last year. The last Western Disturbance caused rains only in the western Himalayan region, northern parts of Punjab and Haryana. Due to less rainfall, it can have a bad effect on winter crops.
IMD director told the figures
Regarding the rains, IMD Director General Mrityunjay Mohapatra said that the rains are likely to continue till Tuesday and after that it will decrease. He said that this rain would not be able to make up for the deficit so far during the month. On the other hand, if we talk about December, then in December 2022 also 13.6 mm of rain was recorded, which was the lowest monthly amount after December 2016. It was told that the lack of rain can affect the winter crops.
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute scientist Rajbir Yadav told TOI that most of the wheat area in India (more than 95 percent) is irrigated. He said that moderate rains would extend the cold period, which would prove to be a boon for the production of wheat crop. Yadav said timely and light winter rains are helpful for wheat production by saving cost on irrigation, which is especially helpful for farmers who have less irrigation facilities.
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damage to crops
Rajbir Yadav said that rain water also contains nitrate, which is beneficial for the growth of the crop. When the winters are dry, the outbreaks of frost on the crops increase. Due to lack of rain and extreme cold some mustard crops were affected by frost a few days ago. This has caused some damage to the mustard crop, especially in Mahendragarh district of Rajasthan and Haryana.
Farmers are also worried due to lack of rain. Devesh Shukla, a farmer from Ardaya village in Agra, said that the wheat crop in areas of Uttar Pradesh that do not have irrigation facilities has been affected by the scanty rainfall this season. About 10-20% of the wheat crop may be affected in such areas. Potato crop was also affected by leaf scorch, which is mainly due to cold and dry winters.
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Tags: Agriculture, farmers, Farming, Farming in India
FIRST PUBLISHED : January 31, 2023, 07:30 IST
