Tribune News Service Amritsar November 17 The recent heavy showers in areas of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts may cause trouble for wheat growers especially those who had sown seeds just before the rain as they fear that the seeds would fail to germinate due to presence of moisture content. Even the rain will lead to a delay in the sowing of the crop of many other growers who were getting ready for the same. Kuljeet Singh a farmer from Malawali village near here said “We had sown four and a half acres last Sunday. The rain did not even let us complete the process.” He said if the moisture content would have surpassed the optimum level the seeds would not germinate. “We will now have to prepare the fields again next week when moisture content levels will drop and re-sow the seeds. As farmers would have to spend more money on diesel and seeds the input costs for them would increase by around Rs 1500-2000. Though most of the farmers had finished wheat sowing before Diwali many others who had cultivated late grown basmati varieties and vegetables were still to finish the work. Sukhwant Singh a vegetable grower said he was planning to sow the seeds after Diwali but the rain postponed his plans to some another week. “A weeks delay in sowing results in a drop of about one quintal of yield. The late sown wheat generally does not sprout well” he added. Farmers say that agriculture to a great extent is still dependent on weather and sometimes they have to suffer losses due to untimely rains. As it rained heavily between mid-October and mid-November many farmers had to re-sow the crop. “This year the number of farmers who faced problems due to heavy showers is much less as compared to previous year” said an agriculture official adding that farmers should check germination after a few days before deciding to sow the crop again.

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