Haryana mandis empty, harvesting to pick up pace by Baisakhi

Though the Haryana government began wheat procurement at over 400 mandis and purchase centres in the state on April 1, there is hardly any crop arrivals at the sites on the GT Road belt of the state.
A visit to some of the purchase centres in three districts of North Haryana revealed that most sheds here are empty and at some centres, not even a single gate pass was issued.
The state government’s food, civil supplies, and consumer affairs department is carrying out the procurement through HAFED, HSWC and FCI.
The annual exercise will take place simultaneously with the parliamentary polls in the state and the administration has directed the market committee staff to ensure that no farmer faces any inconvenience in getting gate passes and there is no chaos at the mandis.
At the grain market of Samalkha sub-division in Panipat, there was hardly any wheat farmer but a few had come to sell their mustard crop. Wheat farmers say their crop hasn’t fully ripened for harvesting.
Arun Kumar, a farmer from Kalsaura village in Karnal’s Indri, said, “Most of the crop in my farm is still green. I may start harvesting by month-end.”
Another farmer, Rahul, says that the reason why crop ripening has been delayed is that the temperature remained on the lower side for several weeks.
“With the mercury now rising gradually, the crop will be ready soon,” he added. Agriculture experts are of the opinion that harvesting may pick up pace by Baisakhi (April 13).
Dr Jasvinder Saini, deputy director, agriculture (DDA), Ambala, said that till Saturday, only 2% harvesting had taken place in the farms under his jurisdiction. On being asked if late sowing of paddy due to floods last monsoon may be the reason behind late ripening, Saini replied in the negative. As per reports, in Haryana, about 25 lakh hectares are under the wheat crop and estimated production of wheat is about 120 lakh MT.
Last year, the state had procured about 63 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) wheat, while this season, the government is likely to purchase about 65 LMT for the central pool.
Dr BS Tyagi, principal scientist at ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal, is of the opinion that the prolonged cold or delayed harvesting will not have any adverse effect on the crop or yield. “Now, the temperature has touched 35°C and there is maturity in all variety of wheat sown in the region. We have advised the peasants to ensure that there is no irrigation ahead of harvesting and if required, the water should be given only where crop is green, only after observing the weather in advance,” he added.
Dr Gyanendra Singh, director at ICAR-IIWBR, Karnal said, “At the moment, there is minimal harvest in the region. I believe, it will gather pace between April 10-15 in Haryana, Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh. If all conditions remain favourable, there could also be a record harvest this year.”