Thaindian News

Chandigarh, July 13 (IANS) Following the substantial damage to agricultural land and freshly planted paddy crop in the Haryana floods, the state government is now looking for nurseries that have readily available saplings of paddy.
Tens of thousands of paddy saplings will be required by the state’s agriculture department and farmers to re-transplant the paddy crop as the waters recede in the flood affected districts.

The heavy rain and floods, which started last week, have affected area under paddy in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Sirsa and Fatehabad districts.

“There is hardly any time left for raising fresh paddy nurseries at this juncture. The Haryana agriculture department is looking for readily available nurseries of paddy with the farmers of adjoining districts and states to help the affected farmers of Haryana. The department has also advised farmers to procure the same from such sources and re-transplant paddy in their fields,” a spokesperson of the agricultural department said here Tuesday.

Nearly 200,000 acres of agricultural land has been affected by the floods and heavy rain. The freshly sown paddy crop in these parts has been completely destroyed due to water logging.

The agriculture department has directed all its field officers to guide farmers about availability of paddy saplings and nurseries in adjoining districts and states.

At places where transplantation of paddy in the damaged area is not feasible at this stage due to standing flood waters, farmers have been advised to plant alternate crops like maize, fodder and ‘urad’ in the months of July and August.