Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Unseasonal rain and hailstorms have destroyed crops in many parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
Rabi crops besides fruits and vegetables have been destroyed in Maharashtra. Around five million farmers have been affected due to unprecedented rain in the last few days.
Agriculture Commissioner Umakant Dangat told IANS: "In the past 10 days or so, around 800,000 hectares spread across 28 districts in the state were hit by either heavy rain or severe hailstorms.”
All the affected states have urged the Centre to provide relief to tens of thousands of farmers.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "The farmers have suffered an extensive damage to their crops due to unseasonal rains and hailstorm which is going on even now resulting in a crop loss of about Rs 13,000 crore."
Chouhan said that a total of 30,000 villages were affected because of rains and hailstorm causing damage to 20 lakh MT of wheat crop, 10 lakh MT of gram, three lakh MT of masoor (lentil) and 1.5 lakh MT of other crops suffered damages.
Wheat crops at several places including Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Nawanshahar, Mohali, Tarn Taran in Punjab and a few districts including Palwal and Yamunanagar in Haryana were flattened because of rain and high velocity winds, officials of the agriculture department concerned said in Chandigarh.
Farmers in Uttar Pradesh`s Agra and its neighbouring districts are on the warpath demanding compensation for the heavy loss to standing potato and mustard crops by untimely rain and hailstorms.
The wet weather has caused extensive damage to the potato crop, in some areas up to 60 percent. The estimate of loss of mustard varies from 20 to 30 percent.
With PTI/IANS inputs
