Govt sets up panel on wheat as farms brace for heat wave
The Centre has mounted an unprecedented interministerial effort to protect the country’s wheat crop, a winter staple, which faces imminent risks from anticipated heatwaves due to early summer, and has set up a panel to deal with the problem.
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Scores of state-employed farm scientists from institutions, such as the flagship Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (crop advisory centres), have been deployed to fields in five states to inform growers about crop protection measures in case of a heatwave, an official said.
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The states that could see a heatwave are mostly in the northwest, in India’s main food bowl plain, comprising Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Rajasthan, commonly viewed as a desert state, is a major grower of a variety of cereal and oilseeds. It faces the most risk of a heatwave, an official stated. Madhya Pradesh, another large grower, faces the least threat because the state’s wheat crop matures earlier than elsewhere.
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