Chana output in Indore division is estimated to drop by over 15 per cent owing to lower acreage and unfavourable weather, according to industry players, scientists and officials. Chana output in the state is estimated at around 35 lakh tonnes, of which a major chunk comes from Malwa and Nimar region, said industry experts. Indore division produces an estimated 4.5 lakh tonnes of chana, they said. All India Dal Mills Association president Suresh Agrawal said, “Chana production is estimated lower in the state led by Malwa and Nimar region as a large area under chana was shifted to other rabi crops while weather was also not conducive.”

“We may escape coronavirus but not the impact of the other disaster (unseasonal rains and hailstorms) which struck us last week,” said Subhash Chaudhary, who, like other farmers in the north, suffered heavy damage to standing crops on Saturday even as 31 districts of Uttar Pradesh faced the wrath of the weather this month. Unseasonal rains and hailstorms have, so far, affected rabi (winter sown) crops on over 4 lakh hectares of land in north India with UP the worst-hit till Saturday. Besides UP, a few districts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan too have borne the impact

THE problems that beset the rural sector across Asia are similar — absence of governance; loss of governments’ credibility; trust deficit; politics of self-aggrandisement; financial stress; class and caste conflicts; lack of rural infrastructure and agro-based industry; non-existent human resource development programmes; unemployment; drug menace; youth disinterested in farming and ever keen to migrate to green pastures; debt burden; suicides, and much more.

Problems in the farming sector are no different, ranging from fading Green Revolution to distant ‘alternative’ agriculture; pricing to storage, transport and marketing; vagaries of climate change to depleting natural resources. For remunerative agriculture, it is imperative that farmers get adequate exposure to agro-meteorology, bio-technology and bio-diversity; extension education (for farm operations and agronomic ...

Over the last 10-15 days, rains have lashed many parts of north India with reports saying the standing wheat crop is being affected by the downpour.

However, production of wheat may not be affected as feared. Probably, the quality of the grains in the rain-hit areas could be affected. But there is a more worrisome issue of bulging stocks.

The Economic Times quoted Dr Gynanedra P Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, as saying that there could be loss of up to five per cent of the crop.