Punjab farmers fear rain may damage paddy crops

Hoshiarpur/Ludhiana, Oct 16 (PTI) As a sudden spell of rain lashed many parts of Punjab on Monday, paddy growers feared it could damage their crops and reduce yields.
     Farmers, who have already harvested their produce and brought it to mandis for sale, also complained that heaps of paddy sacks lying in the markets got soaked in showers.
     The ongoing strike by rice millers also added to the woes as the lifting process at most of the mandis was adversely affected, said farmers.
     Rain lashed many places, including Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Moga and Mohali in Punjab.
     In Hoshiarpur, farmer Jangveer Singh of Rasoolpur village said paddy crops on over four acres of field that were almost ready to be harvested got flattened because of the rainfall and strong winds.
     He said the sudden rain will delay harvesting and reduce the yield.
     According to farmers, around 70 per cent of the paddy crops were yet to be harvested.
     A farmer in Nabha, who brought the crop for sale in a mandi, said because of rain, the moisture content in the crop will increase. Also, there was not enough space in the mandi to keep the crop safe from rain.
     Farmers said that paddy sacks lying in mandis at Khanna, Ferozepur, Nabha, Moga and Bathinda got wet.
     The paddy sacks were lying in mandis as the ongoing strike of rice shellers had already halted the lifting of the crop.
     In Ludhiana's Khanna, rain also impacted the paddy procurement.
     Rice shellers in the state have been on strike for the past three days against a new set of guidelines issued by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
     According to the Punjab Rice Industries Association, the FCI has laid down a condition in which if the nutritional value of fortified rice is found to be less than the prescribed standard, the rice sheller will have to fulfil the shortfall.
     The millers claimed that they mix the fortified rice kernels (FRK) with the custom-milled rice after buying it from the government-notified manufacturers and therefore they should not be penalised for the shortfall.
     Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress have asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann to intervene in the matter to ensure that farmers do not suffer due to the strike by rice shellers.
     SAD leader Daljit Singh said, "It is condemnable that the chief minister has not taken up the issue with the central government and is allowing the farmers of the state to suffer due to the ongoing strike by rice sheller owners.
     "It must be impressed on the Centre that shellers are taking fortification material to be mixed in rice from mills approved by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and that the latter cannot hold them to account for any shortcoming," he said in a statement.
     Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said due to the ongoing strike by the rice millers, over 65 per cent of the paddy purchased so far has not been lifted from mandis and he has sought intervention of the CM in the matter.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)