Bijnor: The arrival of early summer accompanied by high speed winds is worrying farmers who have sowed wheat this rabi season. Over the past one week, temperatures have risen across northern India and are hovering between 24 and 27 degrees Celsius.Wheat has been sown across 1.10 lakh hectares in Bijnor district. Farmers are in a fix — if they irrigate the crop, it will become heavy and speedy winds will break the stems and if the do not add water, there is a danger that the crop will wilt.According to the data, provided by Nagina Agriculture Research Centre, minimum moisture was recorded at 35 and wind speed at over 15km per hour. The speed of winds is rising continuously. Swift wind is considered harmful for the wheat crop, which is in a flowering or milking stage at present.The change in weather comes on the heels of delayed sowing. It was delayed due to cash crunch in the wake of the demonetisation.Rajendra Malik, scientist at Nagina Agriculture Research Centre, said, “Over the past few days, the speed of the wind is rising. As the speed of the wind goes up, moisture content will go down. The western wind causes soil moisture to evaporate faster and stops the grain from developing as the wheat crop is under flowering or milking stage. We are advising farmers to irrigate the field lightly. They should avoid heavy irrigation otherwise strong winds can disturb the crop roots. If stalks fall, production will go down.”

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