Faizabad and Ambedkar Nagar. In central Uttar Pradesh, potato farmers are a new cause for concern – the dropping mercury and frost are expected to adversely affect their crop. In a situation where crops are neither insured nor are the farmers likely to get compensation for winter crops, farmers are also worried about other standing crops like peas, mustard, and arhar.
Sunil, a farmer from Ambedkar Nagar district said, ‘Almost 50 hectares of cultivable land in the district are sown with the potato crop right now. If the weather continues to be this way, 40% of this crop is expected to be destroyed.’
Ramnarayan and Piyush are also worried with the cloud cover in fogged out Uttar Pradesh staying put for the last few days. ‘The potato crop was sown in October. Clouds at this point cause disease in the potato crop. The leaves burn up and the disease spreads fast,’ said Ramnarayan.
District Horticulture Officer of Ambedkar Nagar, Ishaaq Ansari said that if farmers spot any symptoms of disease in their crop they should immediately spray it with the proper pesticide.
District Agriculture Officer Dr. Subhash Chandra said that this time of the year is always risky for vegetable crops. While vegetable crops should be sprayed with pesticide every fortnight, the arhar crop should be lightly irrigated to prevent it from spoiling.
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