Dry Winter, W. Temps 2-3C Over Averages, Stress Wheat Crops In Uttar Pradesh - Times Of India

[hatrack]

LUCKNOW: Some call it as an impact of global warming, others describe it as vagaries of weather. But in any case, temperatures this winter, barring the first week of January, have constantly been 2-3 degrees above the normal in the state so far. And with no rains at all, authorities fear that wheat crop production may fall by 10-20 per cent. "The state has fixed a target of 274 lakh metric ton of wheat production this year, but due to warm weather conditions and no rainfall till date in winters, we expect wheat production to fall by 10-20 per cent," said JP Tripathi, director, agriculture. "Even if it rains for some days in coming week, it could benefit the crops. But if it will rain in March along with gusty winds, loss could be more as it would damage the standing crop ready for harvesting," he added.

The areas where wheat was sown in November has started sprouting while where it was sown in December sprouting would start in the last week of February or first week of March. The wheat crop will be ripe for harvesting by the end of March or April. Wheat crop requires rains in the months of December and January for good harvesting, otherwise the grains are smaller in size and do not yield good quality and quantity of flour.

"Same is the situation with oilseeds and pulses sown in this season. I think this is an impact of global warming that temperatures have constantly been above the normal this year," said director, agriculture. According to the normals set by the Met department, December should receive at least 7-10 mm rains, January 21-23 mm and February 9-13 mm. But this winters, the rainfall in UP, barring few western districts, has been zero so far.

The Met department is also worried with the weather trend. "This year we have been receiving a steady stream of cyclonic circulations which made the weather warm and at times cloudy but since moisture feeding has not been sufficient, the clouds have not precipitated into rains," said Mannu Ram, director, state Met department. "Similar weather conditions will prevail on Tuesday but we can expect some change in the climate from Wednesday evening," he added.

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