Cold Wave: Panjab Records -0.2℃, Wheat Crop Maybe Affected

For the first time in Panjab in this winter season, on 15 Jan the temperature went below zero degrees Celsius. While schools have reopened in Panjab, most parts of North India continue to reel under chilling cold wave conditions with dense fog lowering visibility and disrupting rail and air traffic in the national capital. Every day for the past few weeks, scores of flights are canceled and trains are delayed or canceled. Extreme cold conditions and lack of sunlight also affect crops. Though wheat is standing in Panjab’s fields, there is risk of yellow rust disease. India has a huge expectation from the crop because according to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies, the godowns were down to 163.5 lakh tonnes (lt) of the cereal as of 1 Jan. The current levels are higher than the minimum buffer level of 138 lt, required to cover three months of the operational requirement of 108 lt as well an additional 30 lt required in case of any procurement shortfall. The Union government has banned the export of wheat and has banned wholesalers and big chain retailers from holding more than 1,000 tonnes of wheat, and also selling grain from FCI’s stocks in the open market. Still, a lot of it depends on the size of the harvest of the wheat crop at March-end, ahead of Lok Sabha elections. This season, in Panjab, the area under wheat is 34.80 lakh hectare. All over northern states, it is 336.96 lakh hectares (lh), up from last year’s 335.67 lh and the normal five-year average of 307.32 lh.