On Friday evening, farmers in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts were hit by unseasonal rain and hailstorm, which destroyed mustard, barley, gramme, wheat, and vegetable crops.
Farmers took to social media to post photos and videos of their crop devastation. Balbir Singh of Bhandwa village in Charkhi Dadri district, one of the impacted farmers, said he was only two weeks away from harvesting his mustard crop, which he had cultivated on 12-acre property, when the rain struck havoc.
“We were anticipating a strong crop this year, and mustard was also priced at 7,000 per quintal.” We were hoping to make a profit, but the area was pounded by a hailstorm for the third year in a row. “The government should compensate us at a rate of $60,000 per acre,” he stated.
Farmers were observed removing hail from the roadways in Haryana agricultural minister JP Dalal’s home seat of Loharu in Bhiwani. Krampal Sheoran of Chahar Kalan village reported the entire mustard crop and over 80% of the wheat crop had been ruined.
“The fields were blanketed in a covering of hail. We hadn’t seen such a good crop since 1997, but it was ruined by hail. We may be compensated by the government, but it will be insufficient. “We were anticipating more than 10 quintals of mustard from an average field, which would fetch $70,000 per acre, but the government’s compensation will be paltry,” he said.
Kiran Choudhry, a Tosham MLA and a Congress politician, has requested the government to conduct a girdawari and pay farmers with $65,000 per acre for mustard crop damage.
Farmers had to deal with a urea scarcity first, and then a hailstorm slammed the area. Farmers have yet to be compensated for agricultural damage sustained earlier this year. She stated, “The government must reimburse them in a timely manner.”
Shruti Choudhry, a former Bhiwani-Mahendergarh MP, said the UPA government implemented a strategy to compensate farmers for agricultural damage caused by weather, but the BJP government reversed that policy.
Haryana agriculture minister JP Dalal said he will visit the affected areas and farmers will be compensated for the damage.