With a delay in the onset of southwest monsoon in Delhi and parts of north India, people have been reeling under high-heat and high-humidity conditions. Apart from this, farmers in many parts of Haryana have been affected by water scarcity. Many farmers from the districts of Rohtak and Jhajjar complained about their sugarcane and paddy crops turning dry. More than 25,000 acres of land has been covered under paddy in the two districts. They are now worried about the timely sowing of Kharif crops.
A farmer from Mokhra village of Rohtak, said he had grown paddy crop on his four-acre land which has been drying for the last one week and if there’s no rain in the next one week, it will be completely damaged.
Not many paddy growers can afford to irrigate their fields with generators due to the constantly rising prices of diesel. A few who can manage are unable to do so due to intermittent power cuts, said another farmer from Jhajjar’s Gochi village. Therefore, their only hope is good rainfall.
Usually, farmers start planting summer crops on June 1 when the monsoon rains reach the country. The planting continues until early August.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, this time farmers planted 49.9 million hectares with summer crops which is 10.43% less than last year as monsoon rains tapered off after a strong start last month. Rice, the key summer crop, was planted at 11.5 million hectares this year as against 12.6 million hectares in the previous year. Similarly, cotton was planted on 8.6 million hectares of land in 2021 as against 10.5 million hectares the prior year.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that the monsoon is expected to arrive in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab by Tuesday. This is the most delayed monsoon in this region in the last 15 years.
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